Do you and your staff experience stress in the workplace? Is your workplace causing the stress? How much is it costing your business? These are questions you can’t ignore, especially given how hard it is to attract and retain a talented AND engaged workforce.

People have very different ideas with respect to their definition of stress. Probably the most common is, “physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension”. Another popular definition of stress is, “a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives the demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.” – The American Institute of Stress

We all get stressed at one time or another at work for any number of reasons such as pay, workload, work-life balance, job security, work environment, or even just not being in the right job. The question is how long that stress level lasts and what impact is it having on the employee and the company?According to the American Psychological Association, 61% of people say work is a common source of the stress in their lives. And, based on research by Everest College, 83% of working Americans are stressed at work. 77% of people experience physical pain because of stress according to paralign.com. This stress in the workplace can physically impact our employees causing heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, more colds/flu, anxiety, depression, headaches, chest pains and more. But it also has a huge impact on our businesses. Stressed workers tend to be more fatigued, more likely to make mistakes or cause an injury, and more likely to be absent. According to a report by Health Advocate, stress is costing our businesses $300 Billion in worker productivity.

The good news is, as a business, you can have a positive role in helping to reduce your employees’ stress. According to the American Psychological Association, there are a few ways to reduce stress in your work environment and the scope of your employees’ jobs:

Ensure employees’ workloads are manageable and clearly defined.

Design jobs that are meaningful, stimulating, and provide opportunities for your employees to use their skills.

Involve your employees in decisions that affect their jobs.

Improve communications about growth and development opportunities for your employees.

Provide opportunities for your employees to interact and collaborate.

Offer flexibility in the workplace to make it easier to manage work and life (i.e. flex time, telecommute, longer lunch breaks).

The list of ways you can help minimize work related stress for your employees doesn’t stop there. Additionally, you can:

Don’t let stress in the workplace impact your business. Stop and evaluate if you have a problem with stress in the workplace through personal observation, formal questionnaire (i.e. Stress Management at Work or Workplace Stress Survey or Self-Assessments on Stress), and/or discussions with employees. Based on the results and some of the ideas in this article, begin making some changes to help reduce the stress in the workplace to a healthy level.

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is the President of strategic HR inc. and definitely the pot calling the kettle black but learned a lot from writing this article and watching John Throckmorton, MS, SPHR handle stress in the workplace. If you have questions or suggestions, contact us.

Two of the most important factors in keeping millennials engaged at work are authenticity and feedback. They want to be in an environment where they are not only heard, but can be who they actually are, learn new skills, and celebrate their unique talents.

Unfortunately, as a manager, you are not going to discover who your employees are and be in a position to celebrate their talents if you limit contact to emails, text messages, tweets or voicemail. To do so effectively takes one-on-one interaction.

An update on the tried and true Management by Walking Around method is Transformational Management by Walking Around. TMBWA is a leadership tool that gets you into the minds of your employees and engages your entire workforce in the visions and goals of your company. TMBWA is more than the simple walk and chat of traditional Management by Walking Around: It is a planned, organized interaction (a process) that provides you with insight into your business, your employees, and their processes, cultures, and attitudes. Successful leadership thrives on this valuable information. It is essential for shifting the focus of conversations to your priorities, building company spirit, exceeding your targets, and driving change.

Below is the simple process you can use to implement this method, which in turn will improve your culture and business results:

Prepare

Preparation is the key to a conversation that yields insights and change. Take a few minutes each day to educate yourself about each employee’s performance, improvements (or lack of), ideas, suggestions, training, and targets. Decide on a goal for your conversations. This planning is what elevates traditional management by walking around to the transformational tool it is.

Approach

Time your approach so that your employees are open to a chat. You want them to be free to engage and therefore at ease and without distractions. Don’t interrupt them at busy times, when they are with customers, or when on a break. You may need to try several different times until you discover what works best for you and your employees.

Talk

You can and should be open to talking with every one of your employees. Tell them when you notice something positive. Offer praise. Ask how they achieved their accomplishments or what struggles have contributed to their lack of success. Ask about concerns and ideas. And most importantly, listen more than you talk.

Persist

You may find that during your first walks, employees aren’t offering ideas or communicating freely. Don’t be discouraged. Repetitive visits and discussions will eventually encourage employees to bring their ideas forward. Frequent TMBWA will also improve results because you’ll reach employees as issues arise and are fresh in their minds.

This method – or process – is one of the keys to a successful talent management strategy, designed to improve culture, employee engagement, performance, and business results.

Source: What is Transformational Management by Walking Around?, What Makes a Good Leader, Ian Pratt, Director

Jackie Messersmith is President and CEO of Talent Management LLC. Talent Management provides consulting services to small to mid-size businesses to put a top performing culture and talent strategy in place, and is the developer of Talent Snapshot®, an integrated, competency based, online talent management solutions. Jackie can be reached at 513-528-9700 or jackie@talentmanagementllc.com

By Cathleen Snyder, Director of Client Relations and John Throckmorton, VP Operations

We recently had the privilege and pleasure to attend the 2016 Ohio HR Conference in Sandusky, OH. If you have not attended, we would highly recommend it. This is an opportunity to connect and network with other HR professionals, attend some great development sessions, and have a little fun along the way.

For those who couldn’t attend, this year’s theme was “Play Like an HR Champion” with a football focus on teamwork. This begs the question, “What have you done today to improve your team?”

Building an effective team is not trivial. Whether you root for the Bengals, Buckeyes, Browns or any other team, we constantly hear stories of the challenges of keeping that team focused, healthy, and thriving. Often this means dealing with external distractions.

For our own teams, we also face varying levels of skills, experience, engagement and expectations. What are you doing to improve this team on a daily basis? Are you providing training? Are your teams challenged? Are you recognizing your team in some way, regularly? Are you showing a personal interest in your team mates? Are you empowering them to make decisions?

In theory, it’s not hard. In practice, it can be a different story. We get busy. Our attention gets drawn to the latest fire or problematic employee. Often we focus on what’s not working and fail to acknowledge what is working.

In the end, it is critical for your team members to know that you care about their well-being.

Some of your managers may ask, “Why do I care, can’t they just do their jobs?”

In fact, many of us gripe about just doing performance management activities on an annual basis. There is much discussion in the HR space about abolishing annual performance reviews and taking it to regular and consistent discussions. Can you sustain regular (weekly, monthly, or at least quarterly) open discussions with your employees? The annual review forces a point in time where performance is reviewed, discussed and documented. If you can replace this with the regular discussions, then you may be ready to abolish your reviews.

But, what if you took it to the other extreme? At the Ohio HR Conference, Jim Tressel addressed the issue of teams and feedback. For the Ohio State Buckeye’s under Jim Tressel, he said every team member was given a grade each and every day based on their performance on and off the field – practice, workouts, film prep, academic studies, etc. This gave each and every player a very clear understanding of where they stood with their manager and their expectations of performance. Can you give your employees a grade every day to ensure they clearly understand your expectations as well as their performance?

Our job as HR is to challenge our managers to over-communicate. Reach the level of feedback that wins national championships! We’re excited to bring our learnings from the conference back to add to our play book. Whether you favor Lou Holtz, Jim Tressel, Urban Meyer or Nick Saban, now is the time to run the big play.

Is Pokémon GO a fad or here to stay? According to SimilarWeb, since Pokémon GO launched on July 2016, the app has been downloaded millions of times surpassing Tinder downloads and Twitter daily active users. According to Forbes, the age of players breaks down as:

22% Age 13 – 17

46% Age 18 – 29

25% Age 30 – 50

6% Age 50+

To be specific, Survey Monkey Intelligence found the “average user persona is a 25 year old, white woman with a college degree making about $90,000/year.”

For those of you that have heard about this new craze or have seen the walking zombies in the parks, but still don’t get it, we’ve provided some general definitions in Figure 1. This game involves many recurring activities that can be a guide to managing our HR programs for employees. Let’s take a look at some definitions first.

Pokémon GO Definitions (Figure 1)For those of you that have heard about this new craze or have seen the walking zombies in the parks, let’s get some definitions clarified:

Term

Definition

Pokémon GO

An augmented reality game you can play through an app on your phone.

Augmented Reality

Combines the virtual reality on a phone with the physical world around you.

Pokémon

The inhabitants of the Pokémon world that you try to capture and train.

PokeStop

Landmarks in the “real world” that are places you can obtain items to help you in the game.

Poke Balls

You collect poke balls to use to capture Pokémon. Poke Balls also come as Great Balls and Ultra Balls, which allow you to capture stronger Pokémon.

A feature added for the Team Trainers to give you feedback on your Pokémon at any time.

Recruitment

Attracting and hiring key talent for our organizations is an ongoing challenge whether we are in a tight labor market or not. Pokémon GO would guide your organization to think about:

How do you attract candidates to your company? What lures and incense are you using to get the unique candidates (versus the common Weedles and Pidgeys) to come to you? Or are you just walking around hoping to find them? Some ways to attract candidates include:

Job Postings

Career Fairs

Sourcing

Networking

Events

Once you’ve identified key talent, what do you do to entice the candidate to join your company? What are your Razz Berry and what type of Poke Ball are you using?

Signing Bonus

Work Environment

Unique Benefits (i.e. Teledoc, HealthAdvocate, co-pays, PTO)

Growth Opportunity

Competitive Compensation

Leading Edge Technology

Onboarding

For a Pokémon, once captured, it is part of your team until transferred. However, for candidates joining your company, the first days and weeks of their arrival can at times dictate the future of their career with your company. A rocky onboarding that does not integrate the new employee well, can result in either a quick departure or a troubled relationship. However, having a positive onboarding plan to illustrate the new employees’ importance to the department and the company goes a long way to their engagement with the company.

Actions for the day of arrival (meet and greet, individual and company expectations, company information)

Post arrival follow up (30, 60, 90 day plans)

Tools for the Job

When was the last time you did an employee survey? Did employees respond that they had the tools they needed to do their job? If not, what do they need? In Pokémon GO, you can’t succeed without the right “items” and enough of them in your bag. You need to visit PokeStops to obtain these items.

Employees are the same. If we aren’t ensuring they have all the tools they need, it may affect their performance or their ability to even do the job at all. They may have to stop a project to go find the tools they need. It’s important for you to check in with your employees to ensure they have the necessary equipment, software, team support, access to data / information, etc.

Training and Education

One of the top reasons why employees stay or leave an organization is the opportunity for growth and development. Pokémon GO is nearly the same! In Pokémon GO it is important to obtain other Pokémon to help evolve or power up your Pokémon; the stronger your Pokémon, the more success you have in the game. And just like in Pokémon GO, you wouldn’t throw in your least trained employee with limited exposure and experience to take on a key job needing specific skill sets. You need to build their skills and experiences to be a success:

This type of skill development for any company is priceless:

Mentoring provides an opportunity for a mentor and mentee relationship helping both parties develop skills in a variety of ways

Cross training strengthens an employee’s ability to help the company in many areas

Training could include on the job, classroom or online training to develop an employee’s exposure and skill level. The more the employee develops the stronger they become for the company.

Performance Management
Imagine all the discussions about abolishing performance reviews; now consider that Pokémon GO added a feature called Appraisal. It’s a way for a team leader to provide you feedback anytime on how your Pokémon is doing and should be performing. Whether we eliminate our performance reviews or not, we need to help manage our employees’ performance by ensuring we are:

Setting clear expectations

Maintaining culture of the company

Providing just in time feedback on how our employees are performing

Working together to improve performance

But like in Pokémon GO, we may find there are some employees that just aren’t the right fit for the job or don’t have the skills needed tomorrow. It’s a hard decision to let go of someone you worked hard to obtain; but, if they are taking the seat of that future skill and employee that you need and they aren’t able to be trained or coached, it’s time to let them go. In Pokémon GO, you’ll transfer the Pokémon to the Professor to be evaluated, retrained and put back out in the Pokémon world to become a gem for someone else. In the corporate world, you are freeing up capital to find an employee that can contribute in the way the company needs.

Teamwork Collaboration

Each individual on a team contributes to the overall success of the team. In Pokémon GO, you have to pick whether you will be on the Red, Yellow or Blue team. Whenever you battle in a gym, you bring your individual team of Pokémon to help contribute to making your overall team more successful. We have to learn what unique skills each of our Pokémon have and when to use them to get the job done. In one battle, you may find a Water Pokémon is needed and another a Fire Pokémon and another a Poison Pokémon. For every team, it is important to have diversity and understand and respect the diversity of your team. In Pokémon GO, we have diverse users of all ages working together with the same goals and expectations set in the game. When our teams work together, we can definitely attain more and help our companies succeed.

Wellness, Recognition and Reward

Every day we see how our employees’ health, both mentally and physically, impacts their productivity and success on the job. Helping our employees stay healthy through various wellness initiatives is important. A successful wellness program needs to be customized for each organization. While in some organizations a weight loss challenge may be a motivator, in another it may be offering healthy food options, walking programs, or health assessments.

But, we also need to provide them the resources to rejuvenate often through time off from work as well as the best potion ever – employee recognition. Pokémon GO has done a great job of turning around our society filled with “screens” (TV, phones, games) and motivated them to get out and walk. While some may look like zombies, they are out walking to capture more Pokémon or to hatch a Pokémon from an egg. It’s actually just recognition and reward to encourage a specific behavior.

While Pokémon GO may not last forever, it has at least given us lots of analogies and guides through gamification for how our organizations and employees can be more successful. Plus, it has let our family have a lot of fun together even just writing this article.

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is President and a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant at strategic HR inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or would like to share your comments with Robin, contact her at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

We’ve been noticing this question coming up more and more, and many employers are asking us what to do about it:

“My employees don’t see how the way they act is a reflection of our company.”

“They don’t get it, that when they call off everyone on the team is impacted.”

“I shouldn’t have to have this conversation. They should just know!”

Guess what? The fact that you are having these issues means you do have to have this conversation.

Often, these issues are blamed on the millennial generation. The fact is, each of us has differing life experiences, based upon our family, where we were raised and any number of circumstances that impact who we are today. Along the way someone may or may not have discussed what is perceived as areas of basic courtesy and appropriate behavior. Perception of what that means can also differ.

More and more employers are finding themselves having to deal with disciplinary issues that arise from gaps in behavioral expectations, not to mention the frustrations to management and colleagues.

It’s time for employers and HR to be proactive in setting expectations for appropriate workplace behavior. This may include everything from timeliness, appropriate email etiquette, basic manners (yes, belching), and any other issues that you have experienced. I’m a firm believer that to rely on the premise of, “They should just know!” only leads to more frustrations all the way around. If no one has ever communicated expectations, how can employees be expected to know them and held accountable?

The key is to communicate what is expected in a way that is diplomatic, yet clear. For example, informing employees that the conference room walls can be thin. A belching contest while there is a conference call taking place next door, may be problematic. Or, that it’s inappropriate to text during a client meeting, or any meeting for that matter. Helping an employee to see that frequent call offs delays the project, and the increased cost involved as a result. We can’t assume that what we feel is obvious is to others.

Many of these expectations can be addressed in the employee handbook, but should also be reinforced throughout the employees’ lifespan. Don’t forget when presenting the information, to help connect the dots of why a particular behavior is so important. You’ve hired the best and brightest for your team. Once you’ve set these expectations and help them understand the reasoning, you can move on to focusing on what your business does best.

Cathleen Snyder, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant and Director of Client Relations at strategic HR inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or would like to share your comments with Cathleen, contact her at Cathleen@strategicHRinc.com.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a broad term for self-regulating oneself in terms of ethical responsibility and compliance. The term can refer to both internal and external activities that an organization can take part in to improve itself as well as the communities and environments in which it lives and works. Strategic human resources leaders should take an active role in Corporate Social Responsibility by linking the identified corporate initiatives with bonus programs, development plans, retention, not to mention recruiting. These identified initiatives can become measurable results for the entire organization.

Many organizations have taken the lead in these activities but some are slow to come to the table. Human Resources can take an active role, even in organizations that aren’t willing to step up and fully commit to the initiative. This can be done by either “selling the concept” to leaders or even simply implementing programs and activities that the HR department does have control over that support the Corporate Social Responsibility initiative.

The “sell” of these programs shouldn’t be a hard one but some organizations are still not interested in becoming committed to causes that they feel may not impact their bottom line. What these leaders do not see is that becoming socially aware and responsible helps the company’s bottom line. The impact on the organization’s public image and becoming an “employer of choice” because of these initiatives is immeasurable. Employees involved in companies that support CSR initiatives are more highly engaged and in many instances are retained longer. Even more evident are examples of the impact of “failed” Corporate Social Responsibilities. Think BP Oil and even more recent, Volkswagen. The price of these perceived “fails” in Corporate Social Responsibility can be very costly.

Even if you can’t make the “sell” and your company is not ready for a formal roll out of such a program, Human Resources can begin the steps in implementing policy and practices that support Corporate Social Responsibility. Things that could be done include:

Creating a company culture that focuses on CSR. From job advertisements, to interviews, to time off practices, to reward programs…HR can drive a culture that focuses on social and environmental behaviors and rewards employees for those behaviors.

Revising your organization’s code of conduct to include statements about commitment to socially responsible behaviors and environmental care and focus.

Taking swift and appropriate action regarding employee behaviors that are not supportive of the CSR commitment. This can include discipline and even termination in extreme situations where there are clearly identified behaviors are not in support of ethically and socially responsible behaviors.

Assuring your organization is adhering to environmental regulations and standards including safety and health initiatives. Be ahead of the curve with programs that are coming that encourage socially responsible and environmentally friendly activities.

Creating time off and volunteer programs that support the idea of CSR. Provide employees with the flexibility to support local causes and support the initiatives, even of their own choice, that benefit the community or cause of their interest.

Motivating, rewarding, and incenting employees for CSR behaviors that are demonstrated inside and outside of the organization.

Working with other departments to assure Corporate Social Responsibility. This could include, for example, working with purchasing to assure vendors and suppliers are socially responsible, paying a living wage, treating workers and the environment appropriately, etc.

Regardless of Human Resources’ role in your organization, if you take the commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility seriously, you can make a difference that will begin to resonate with your entire organization. Small changes can lead to an organization that hopefully will take Corporate Social Responsibility seriously creating real and meaningful change in the organization, your community, and in the environment.

Patti Dunham, MA, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is with strategic HR inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or would like to share your comments or success stories, you can contact Patti at Patti@strategicHRinc.com.

Everyone has the potential to be a leader. But, often, we assume a leader is a title that an individual holds. Titles don’t make individuals leaders; individuals make themselves leaders:

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

This past week at the Northern Kentucky Chamber Women’s Initiative Breakfast, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Tasha Eurich (author of Bankable Leadership). Her subtitle of “Making Leaders Awesome” couldn’t be more fitting. She rocked! As we left the event, we were all saying, I could start every morning with this type of motivation and tools to add to my toolkit. Not only was Dr. Eurich motivating and inspiring but she provided excellent hands on tools to help each of us bring out the leader within and become a “Bankable Leader”.

Are you a leader? You could be. Dr. Eurich defined leadership as “helping people and organizations reach their greatest potential.

”Each of us has the potential to help others become the best they can regardless of the job title or role we play. We all want to continuously improve. But, we need leaders to help inspire this in others. As we become true leaders, we’ll realize many benefits like setting a shared vision for the organization, creating engaged and productive employees, and achieving company objectives. This in turn should result in happier customers. Who could ask for more? But you have to own your leadership as Dr. Eurich quoted “No one will invest in you more than you.” If you want to become a leader, you need to take charge of your destiny.

An excellent way to take ownership to becoming an awesome leader is embracing Dr. Eurich’s concept of evaluating a leader based on People vs. Results. For example, she shared four questions the audience to consider. Which of these two sets of key words describes us best (get ready it isn’t easy):

– Being human or driving performance

– Being helpful or driving responsibility

– Being thankful or driving improvement

– Being happy or driving productivity

Tough huh? It’s the balance a leader needs to make between people and results. Dr. Eurich describes one end of the spectrum on the people side as the “cool parent” and the other end of the results side as the “trail of dead bodies”. Which leader are you? It’s a fine balance but realizing how you can improve on both is critical. I know for me I try too hard to be the “cool parent” and need to find a middle ground between the people and results.

We own this destiny and need to take control of the leader we want to be. As Dr. Eurich shared 70% of leadership is learnable but 50% of leaders are ineffective. Think about the example she shared…look at the person next to you, one of you will be an ineffective leader. “Not it…” It’s going to be work and may take open communication with your team and even guidance from great coaches like Dr. Eurich. The keys to achieving success that I heard were finding ways to set clear expectations with your employees and be open and honest, AKA tell the truth even when it means providing tough criticism. Balance that with empowering your team and trusting them to succeed.

Often we may have misperception both good and bad of our own leadership. Knowing yourself is critical but hearing how others perceive you is equally important. And, unfortunately in today’s world, people don’t actively share how you can do better. Don’t you want to know what you can do better? I know I do but it hurts when you hear it. But, we need to pursue it. Dr. Eurich encouraged the audience to ask others you trust to be honest with you:

– What am I doing that is helping?

– What am I doing that’s getting in the way?

– And how can I adapt my approach?

Once you have feedback, you can create a plan for improvement. Don’t try to tackle it ALL at once though. We can’t change the world all at once. Pick one thing at a time. To pick that one thing consider a few of Dr. Eurich’s suggestions – will this improvement make your work or life better? Is it reasonable? How will you make sure you don’t give up? Can you commit to it without excuses?

This is a true scenario that happened recently in an organization in the U.S.:

Susan, a 35-year-old Vice President, stormed into the Human
Resource Director’s office after a difficult meeting with an older
direct report. Susan has been in her executive position for just
six months and she has virtually no problems providing – and
receiving – feedback from direct reports her own age. There’s one
person, though – William – who is unsalvageable and should be
fired, she believes. William, a 58-year-old Sales Director appears to
Susan to be extremely needy. He wants a weekly update meeting with
her. She doesn’t have time. He doesn’t want to try new approaches
to his tried and true sales model, nor does he accept any offers to join
him in sales calls to try out a different routine. When Susan offers what she
views as straightforward, constructive criticism, William sulks for days.
She doesn’t have time to coddle him, so she’s going to tell the HR
Director that he must go, and the sooner the better.

Depending on which side of the fence you’re on in your own organization in terms of age and position, you’re probably siding with one person or the other in this scenario. Conflict around work ethic and work methods are abundant in today’s workplace, from small nonprofits to Fortune 500 corporations. We don’t, however, have to accept this as the norm.

Robin Throckmorton and I uncovered different responses to conflict across the generations in our research for Bridging the Generation Gap. We discovered that Radio Babies (born between 1930 – 1945) often avoid confronting their supervisors or those they perceive to be “in authority.” Even though they may strongly disagree with their supervisor’s approach towards the work, they aren’t as likely as members of other generations to speak out about their concerns. They simmer and seethe instead and may consciously or unconsciously sabotage projects as a way of “getting even”.

We found Baby Boomers (born between 1946 – 1964) to be very concerned with resolving conflict through consensus building. Rather than directly tackle issues individually, often the Boomers we interviewed expressed a desire to work through misunderstandings and disagreements in a team setting and move towards the good of the team. Unfortunately, this approach sometimes diffuses individual accountability.

The Gen Xers (born between 1965 – 1976) we interviewed tended to be very straightforward in expressing their point of view and had very little difficulty in telling the truth as they see it when providing feedback of any type. Many of the Xers in our research indicated a distaste for “whitewashing” an issue and prefer to “hit someone between the eyes” with a problem or concern. This does not always result in a productive, tension-free workplace.

We also talked with Gen Yers (born between 1977 – 1991), who often confessed to an inability to cope with conflict in any form and said that they want coaching on dealing with coworkers and customers who express dissatisfaction with them or their work. We found many in this generation to be highly sensitive to any type of criticism and perplexed when faced with open disagreement. The generation following Yers, the Millennials (born after 1991), will soon be coming into the workplace. They are often completely stymied when faced with potential face to face conflict and will have text “discussions” instead of dealing face to face with disagreements.

Given this information as a foundation, I’d like to introduce the FUSION model to handle conflict across generations.

This model represents five steps to ensure you can provide constructive, effective feedback that will maximize productivity and minimize conflict, regardless of the age of the person for whom you’re providing the feedback. This approach is called the FUSION Model:

Focus on the issue at hand and key points related to that issue.

Understand the other’s perspective and point of view.

Be specific about what you think or want.

Use I language and own your concerns or complaints.

Ask open-ended questions that invite conversation.

No “hot button” language such as “you kids always do this”.

Radio Babies are more willing to confront issues directly if the expectation for candor is established at the very beginning of a supervisor – direct report relationship. When a person moves into a leadership role, I recommend that he or she conducts an open meeting with direct reports to establish expectations for getting the work accomplished; communicating questions and concerns; measuring success; and providing constructive feedback. Guide the discussion so that it includes an opportunity for direct reports to bring up barriers to meeting expectations and resources they will require to ensure success. If this is done in an open forum, all direct reports hear the same story at the same time, reducing the potential for misinterpretation. During open forums, remember to:

Focus on a few key points and priorities.

Make an effort to understand their perspectives, issues, and expectations.

Be specific and concrete about what you want.

Be intentional about the questions you ask to ensure there’s a quality dialogue.

Show that you’re open to change and options about accomplishing the work.

If you have Baby Boomers on your staff, you may need to make an extra effort to encourage problem solving and handling conflict independently when it’s appropriate. Boomers grew up in a time when they were one of many….at home, at church, at school or military service, and in the workplace. They became accustomed to dealing with problems as a group so often need extra encouragement to handle issues independently.

I suggest that you provide Boomers with an opportunity to be reflective through self-evaluation, both during the annual review process and as an ongoing process. I like self-evaluation questions such as:

Why is our organization a better place for your having worked here?

What do you need from your supervisor to help you contribute more to the organization?

What skills, knowledge, and abilities do you need to develop to keep you challenged and motivated in your work?

I certainly don’t promote discouraging Boomers from including team members in their decisions and assignments; however, I do believe an occasional laser-like focus on them as individuals and their concerns and issues will be necessary to ensure understanding and minimize miscommunication.

If you’re in a disagreement with a Gen Xer, you’re more likely to find it necessary to park your ego at the door and be willing to receive direct and sometimes brutal honesty. (The bright side of that is you’ll be expected to give as good as you get.) Gen Xers in particular will expect their supervisor or coworkers not to “beat around the bush” but rather to focus in on the issue or problem at hand, sooner than later. They will be more than happy to express their point of view and expect that, regardless of your position, experience, or credentials you will be willing to listen. Gen Xers told us in the interviews we conducted that they appreciate hearing concrete and clear expectations and then be provided with the opportunity to develop optional approaches to get the work accomplished. Saying something like “we’ve always done it this way” is guaranteed to deepen an argument; it won’t help you make your point.

The complaint I hear from Gen Yers more than any other is this: older people always want to yell at us. I’ve probed to find out if “yelling” means actually raising one’s voice. It does not. It means forcefully disagreeing with them. This behavior confuses and perplexes many Gen Yers, and they often ask for coaching around receiving criticism. I often coach Gen Yers to:

Focus on the issue rather than take the criticism as a personal affront.

Understand that older people are sharing their perspective based on years of experience and expertise. They’re not disagreeing just to be mean.

Be specific about your confusion or need for clarification; it’s OK to speak up.

Intentionally promote a discussion; don’t shut down just because the boss doesn’t “adore” you and your work.

Be open to tried and true methods combined with your creative ideas.

No name calling or assessing blame on others; take accountability for your own feelings and actions.

The bottom line to this discussion is that there is no “magic bullet” when it comes to dealing with conflict in the workplace. Responses to conflict will vary based on numerous factors, including one’s age, and careful thought should go into handling each situation on an individual basis. The basic FUSION framework may not change; however, sensitivity to the other person’s generation and influences on their thinking is critical.

The Malaysia government has a probl…there is a perceived lack of communication on their part. If you’ve been following the news lately you’ll know that a Boeing 777 airplane, flight 370 out of Malaysia, has been missing for quite some time with 239 people aboard. As of right now the world is still searching for the missing plane. And the frantic families of the missing are seeking information – anything – that can tell them where their loved ones might be. The Malaysia government is being criticized for not being transparent about events. I don’t know that there is much to communicate at this point, but the perception is that they are not cooperating and not concerned for the well being of the missing because they are not adequately communicating. Meanwhile, the world has been speculating about what may have happened -plane malfunction, diverted flight, hijacked airplane. No one knows so everyone is guessing. Unfortunately with nothing else to go on, perception is reality for those involved.

As awful as this situation is, it mirrors what happens in daily life to a T. If you are not communicating adequately with your customers (internal or external) they will perceive that you don’t care about them or aren’t listening to their requests. With lack of communication they might start to make things up in order to fill-in the missing blanks. After time, they will no longer be your customers (or employees) and move on to a company they perceive as caring.

Keeping the lines of communication open and providing proactive versus reactive communication helps strengthen your image and brand. It helps give the perception that as an organization you are listening and taking action. It’s much easier to promote a positive image than to do damage control and have to fix a negative image. As such, by planning your communication strategy upfront it saves time, especially when you consider the time it would take to enact damage control. Although it may take some time to get everything in order up front, it will definitely save you time later.

Having a communication plan can help significantly. By having such a plan you can confidently and persuasively communicate your message, regardless of it being a positive or negative message. A strong communication plan will:

Define your content – what to include

Define your audience – who to reach and how

Support marketing – mirror the branding of your other messages

Save time and money – by keeping activities within scope and budget

Determine success/failure – defines measurement criteria

You don’t have to be a communications expert to put together a communication plan; it’s fairly simple and should include the following:

Purpose – the message you are conveying and the underlying purpose

Audience – who you are attempting to reach or influence, some things to consider:

a. Demographics (age, gender)

b. Geography (location)

c. Relationship (customers, employees, vendors)

d. Employment (job seekers)

e. Behaviors (where do they hang out)

f. Attitudes (what do they believe)

Tools – the media you plan to use and how you will connect with those outlets

Timing – what are the deadlines involved

Resources – what is your budget and what resources can be obtained within budget

Action Plan – what steps need to happen when (part of the timeline) and who will do them

Measurement – evaluating your plan and adjusting as needed

Keep in mind that this is a ‘living’ document and needs to be updated as tasks are accomplished or roadblocks are encountered. It will need to be tweaked and measured to make sure objectives are accomplished and success is achieved.

By creating a communication plan you have a road map outlining what needs to happen, when it should happen and who is responsible. It will help you set priorities and keep you from missing crucial deadlines. And with the proper planning your communication efforts will be efficient, effective and lasting. Remember – perception is reality. Even if you are doing something great and no one knows, the perception is that you aren’t doing it. Remember to communicate often and keep those perceptions positive!

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who are awaiting communication about the fate of their loved ones onboard flight 370.

Debbie Hatke, MA, SPHR, CIR is the Talent Strategy Manager and a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant with strategic HR inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have questions or comments about this article, you can contact Debbie at Debbie@strategicHRinc.com.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a fantastic presentation by Michel Falcon that focused on the Customer Experience (CX). Interestingly, a number of the questions following his presentation centered around how do we apply this same concept to our internal customer – employees. Guess what…that’s where it actually needs to start according to numerous articles including one by Annette Franz title “Why Employee Experience Must Come Before Customer Experience.”

With an increased focus on customer experience (CX), organizations that realize they will have no customer experience without their employees are the ones that will have the competitive advantage. The tables have turned again with unemployment levels plummeting at the same time as we continue to battle a tremendous shortage of skills. As employers, we need to stop and pay attention to the one factor that impacts all of our business – employees!

While Customer Experience is the interaction between an organization and a customer the duration of their relationship (source Wikipedia), the Employee Experience is the journey an employee has with an organization from the time they apply for the job until they leave the organization, which may be a very long time if you are doing it right! The two naturally go hand in hand.

Too often we lose focus on the employee experience at a huge cost to the business. Rather, if we focus on the employee experience it will have a direct impact on your customers’ experience. A recent Gallup study revealed that only 13% of employees are engaged in their jobs but companies with engaged employees had 22% higher profitability and 10% higher customer ratings. And, as Annette Franz stated in her article “If your employees aren’t engaged, it will be very difficult for them to delight your customers.” She calls it the spillover effect, “defined as the tendency of one person’s emotions to affect how other people around them feel.”

You need to analyze the current state of your employee’s experience to help you better understand where you are today.

Design

Strategically map the steps an employee takes through their journey with your organization (such as hiring, onboarding, surveys, conversations with managers, performance reviews, and even departing/exit interviews).

Develop

With the employee journey mapped, you can then develop strategies to incorporate feedback from employees to improve the process.

Deploy

Or in HR terms, take action. Don’t go through steps 1 – 3 above and fail to implement.

Debrief

Be sure to reflect back on the employees experience once you clearly understand what it is and what you are doing to improve it. Is it working? Does anything else need changed?

As you implement a positive employee experience (EX) in your organization, you’ll in turn see your employees providing your customers with a great experience as well. The net of EX + CX = $$ (AKA increased revenue and brand loyalty to your business).

turnover averages about 17% per month for the first three months (including as much as 16% in the first week)?

81% of those who leave are entry level / intermediate level;

46% of new employees washout in the first 18 months; and

45% felt over $10,000 is wasted on ineffective onboarding.

BambooHR found these statistics in a study regarding onboarding in 2014. The typical cost of turnover is no less than 50% of the annual salary of the employee but often well over 150%. This makes onboarding pretty significant for all businesses. Often we are tormented with short-cutting onboarding because we reason, “I’m busy.” Cutting corners only hurts you, the business, and the new employee.

The reasons for early turnover are very different than someone that’s been on the job a while including: being overwhelmed, feeling neglected, underappreciated, boss was a jerk, work was different than expected, ineffective training. The problem is, if an employee is feeling this way and untrained, they are more likely to be confused, causing them to make mistakes or even expose themselves and others to hazards.

We can’t blame all the turnover of new hires on the onboarding. It actually starts with recruitment. It is imperative to be transparent during the recruitment process about your company, the hiring manager, and the job. If the job is a dirty, hot job, so be it – tell them. If the hiring manager is highly demanding, make that known during the recruiting process. If an employee comes in with a realistic preview of the job, they aren’t surprised and less likely to pack up and leave before they even start.

Once hired, it is important that you are well prepared in advance of the new employee starting. Start by creating a checklist and regularly update it to ensure the new hire’s first day isn’t spent sitting in the lobby. Some basics to prepare include:

Notify Department (Be creative – i.e. design a poster with their picture and title so
the department can add welcome messages.)

Update Company Directory (Add their information and provide them with a copy)

Assign a Mentor/Buddy

Create Employee Onboarding Plan

One of the biggest mistakes we make when we hire a new employee is failing to create a formal onboarding plan. A few key things to consider would be:

Why did you hire them?

What are the main strengths they bring to the role?

What are areas you plan to help them develop?

What will their initial project(s)/assignments be?

What actions should they address the first 2 weeks? 60 days?

What are your expectations of them in 30 days? 60 days? 120 days?

With the plan mapped out, you can put the new employee in the driver’s seat to report the outcomes of the plan such as, “How am I doing? What have I learned? and What additional help do I need?”

Some additional information you’ll want to capture on a checklist to be sure you share with the new employee in the first weeks include:

1) Company Information

Consider sending a welcome packet to the new employee with information about the company and include anything that mirrors your company – logoware, flowers, etc.

Acquaint the new employee with the company’s mission, markets, operations and people

Inform the new employee about the company policies that affect their work

Open the two-way communication from the beginning

2) Employee BenefitsThis can be a long list so be sure you capture your company’s benefits and perks that the employee should know about. Some things to think about including in the list are: Payroll / Pay Day; time tracking; list of benefits and how to enroll; keys; equipment; handbook; emergency procedures and numbers; time off including breaks, sick days, vacation days, holidays; dress code; smoking; parking, etc.

3) Job InformationSome information you should provide them with about the job may be: an organization chart; reporting structure; procedures manuals; job description; performance evaluation.

Another key to successful onboarding is assigning a mentor or buddy. In the same BambooHR study, 37% of the respondents said they want to have a mentor/buddy. The role of this person should include being a source of information (i.e. introductions, unwritten rules) and providing guidance on the job (i.e. clarifying assignment, tools, resources). They key is identifying a good mentor; someone who:

has a good performance history;

is proud of his or her work and of the organization;

is skilled in the new employee’s job;

possesses broad knowledge about the department’s and the company’s operations;

has the time to spend with the new employee;

is patient and a good communicator; and

serves as a positive role model.

The final piece of onboarding you should think about is giving regular feedback to the new hire. Set milestones to check in with them to be sure they were oriented effectively, integrating into the job, utilizing the onboarding plan and performing/reviewing where they should be.

This is a lot to consider which is why it should be well prepared. According to Bill Cushard in his article “These Employee Turnover Stats Should Scare You to Death”, he found that new employees who went through a structured onboarding program were 58% more likely to be with the organization after three years. What will your plan be?

Telecommuting provides benefits to both companies and employees. In fact, it seems like the list of advantages far outweighs the disadvantages and just continues to grow. With the ease at which telecommuting can be implemented in the workplace, what is holding your organization back from at least considering telecommuting as a means to attract and retain your greatest asset – your employees?

Many employers are starting to realize they can actually benefit from allowing their employees to telecommute, whether it is at a full-time or part-time level! “In Going Virtual, Going Green: A Manifesto” by Jared Seeger, Mr. Seeger shares some interesting facts that demonstrate what employers are facing with their workforce:

Two thirds of people want to work from home

36% would choose working from home over a pay raise

A poll of 1,500 technology professionals revealed that 37% would take a pay cut of 10% if they could work from home.

Gen Y’ers are particularly attracted to flexible work arrangements

80% of employees consider telecommuting a job perk

Faced with these facts, an employer has to consider the option of telecommuting to retain an engaged and talented workforce in order to remain competitive. By offering telecommuting, an employer can reduce absenteeism, tardiness, and even attract or retain older workers, disabled workers, and female workers. There are many other benefits to consider as well. For one, a company can reduce the size of their office which is a cost savings in real estate (office space). According to statements by Ann Bamesberger in Sun Microsystem’s Executive Boardroom, they save $70 million a year in real estate costs and another $24 million a year in IT costs through their telecommuting program. Companies can also increase productivity through telecommuting. Best Buy and others have reported an increase of 35 – 40% in productivity of workers that telecommute.

Employees love it! Gen Xers have always pushed the work / life balance issue and telecommuting provides this option. By telecommuting, Gen Xers can be there when their kids get on and off the bus and have their office at their fingertips when they want to continue working at night when the kids go to bed. Technology provides many ways to work 24/7 so why not have an office at home? But, Gen Xers aren’t the only ones that like it, so do the older generations looking for phased retirement or anyone just trying to avoid the nightmare that commuting to work can create. Telecommuting can also save employees money because they don’t have to spend money on gas, food, parking, and even “office” clothes. The time savings from not commuting to work and back in itself is a huge benefit to employees providing them more time to spend with family, friends, and just “found time” to spend however they want.

The list of benefits can go on and on to the employer, employee, and even the community. But, there are always drawbacks to a good thing. For example:

Management has to trust the employee when they are “out of sight” by learning to focus on the results the employee delivers rather than the process and time it takes for the employee to get to the output.

Not everyone is self motivated to work alone and has the ability to stay on task and motivated without others around.

Some employees fear that their careers may be stifled because they are not physically present at the office.

With the growth of technology and increased demand for labor skills in the workplace, employers can’t afford to ignore telecommuting as a retention tool. At the very least they need to consider telecommuting as a viable cost savings solution. When evaluating telecommuting as a workplace option, there are a number of things to consider:

Telecommuting can be part-time or full-time – An employee could telecommute as little as one day a week, to a few days or all five days of the week. Employers need to learn to be flexible depending on the job, the employee, and the situation.

Gauge interest – Talk to employees and managers to determine the interest level of employees. You may find not all employees are interested. However, for those that are, telecommuting may provide a way to actually retain a star performer that is about to leave the organization.

By talking to managers, you can determine what positions could have the flexibility to work remotely, even just part-time.

Even if a position is appropriate for telecommuting, the individual may not be. The ideal worker should be self motivated, a good problem solver, and a good communicator (both written and verbal). Plus, their home environment should be conducive to serving as an office.

Policy and procedure – You need to develop a policy that clearly outlines how telecommuting will work in your organization including setting clear goals, communication requirements, reporting guidelines, hours to work, availability, what resources will be provided, etc.

Keep in mind, telecommuting may not work for ALL positions and your policy should be written to reflect this fact.

Pilot – With any new program, it is always best to pilot it first to learn what works and what needs improvement Test the telecommuting program and learn from any hiccups what needs fixed before rolling it out company wide.

Evaluate – Set some milestone to continuously re-evaluate your telecommuting program. Get input from both the employees and the mangers. Find out what is working well and what could be improved. Technology is improving at warp speed; solutions for making telecommuting become even more effective for the company will always be popping up. Be on the alert for how to improve the program for the good of the company and employees.

Once you begin evaluating your options, you may be surprised that your organization too will reap the benefits of telecommuting flexibility. It may be a huge paradigm shift but one that will be worth it in the long-run.

Through the conventions and traditions that comprise an organization’s culture, great accomplishments are possible. Effective leaders know how to use their organization’s culture to achieve results and can identify when changes must be made within the culture to stay current with an ever-changing environment.

In order to lead culture change, I believe an organization’s leadership must proactively engage in five steps: envisioning; communicating; motivating; measuring; and retaining change.

Envisioning Change

Strategic thinkers are aware of how events in their environment affect the company’s ability to survive and thrive. Given constant change in a global economy, effective leaders must have a vision of how their organization can leverage employees’ skills, knowledge, and abilities to take advantage of evolving markets. Visionary leaders regularly ask, “What if we…..?” and focus on breakthroughs in technology, services, and products that give their organization a competitive advantage. From this vision, anchored in core values, come objectives and goals that drive the actions of the leadership team.

Communicating Change

The critical challenge for leaders today is finding an effective means to transfer values and a vision for the future from their hearts and minds to all the organization’s employees. A strategic plan, for instance, is only as strong as the weakest link within the organization, for every employee’s talents, abilities, and behaviors are needed to implement the breakthroughs required to stay ahead of competitors. New competencies and new approaches may be necessary to keep the organization viable.

I have found that, whether you have six months or six weeks to implement new processes, policies, or procedures, four phases of change are required to change your organizational culture. Linda can be contacted at Linda@Gravett.com. The first phase involves communicating change.

In the first stage, preparation, the groundwork is laid for impending change. For example, let’s say that the organization has decided to implement a diversity initiative as part of its strategic plan. Successful implementation will require people to behave differently. Prior to rolling the initiative out, information should be provided to employees and managers about events in the world around them – the changes in the economy, demographics, and societal norms – that necessitate recruiting, developing, and retaining a diverse workforce. This information can be provided in several forms, such as articles on bulletin boards or on the company web site, discussions in company-wide meetings, or brown bag lunch seminars. At this point, there’s no “pitch” for people to change. The focus is solely on providing information.

Motivating Others to Change

In the second stage, acceptance, employees are brought into the change process by solicitation of their input about potential policies, core values statements, or activities and how changes might affect them personally, their department, and the company as a whole. The question on most peoples’ minds will be, “What’s in it for me to accept new policies or people and to change the way I do things?” If that question isn’t addressed, real culture change isn’t going to occur….at least not at the pace that may be required. Using our example of a diversity initiative, in the acceptance phase Human Resources could conduct a culture audit, a needs analysis of issues and problems regarding recruiting, orientation, training, career development, and compensation. An analysis would then be conducted to determine if one particular group of employees, for example, those over 40 or women, have indicated on the survey that they believe they haven’t experienced the full benefit of promotions and career opportunities that other employees have enjoyed. Human Resources would then follow up with focus groups to attempt to understand why people over 40 or women have the perception that they aren’t being treated the same as other employee groups. Focus group members would be solicited for concrete ideas about methods to remedy the real or perceived disparate treatment. When employees’ opinions are asked, and their solutions implemented whenever feasible, the company gains their acceptance of policy or procedure changes much more readily.

Measuring Change

When employees are made aware of specifically how their contributions have affected the organization’s success, they’re not only motivated to continue their efforts, but they know which behavior(s) to continue.

During the implementation of an organizational change process, I believe it’s critical to set process checkpoints in order to step back and ask, “Are we meeting our objectives?” Of course this question can’t be answered unless clear objectives are established in the first place. Objectives must be articulated in terms that are easily understood by employees, customers, and suppliers. Some examples are:

Establish a presence in the volunteer community as advocates for education.

Expand our customer base to include the 50 to 65 year-old demographic.

Culture is simply “the way things are done around here.” Behaviors can be observed, and the results of those behaviors can be measured quantitatively – increased sales, fewer customer complaints, and recruitment and retention of quality employees that are representative of our customers and the community, to name a few.

Retaining Change

The last two phases of the “PACE” of change address the challenge of retaining change. In the third phase, commitment, new policies or procedures are distributed, training is conducted when necessary, and the changes are put into place. A key element of success at this juncture is that the organization’s leadership must be actually following the new policies or procedures instead of just telling everyone else they must change. To make sure this happens, change agents must be assertive in educating people at all levels within the organization and coaching managers and first-line supervisors alike to model changes in behavior.

The fourth phase in the change process is empowerment. I know, I know…this is an overused word that’s a holdover from the mid-1990’s! In the truest sense of the word, though, empowerment must take place at all levels in the organization to truly affect lasting change. Employees can’t be empowered in an organization that has artificial barriers at every turn that keep them from carrying out required changes. For example, if part of the company’s diversity initiative is to establish cross-functional process improvement teams that are comprised of employees at line, first-line supervisor, and managerial level, the “senior” person on the team cannot step into the first team meeting and assert himself or herself as “the boss.” If the company CEO announces to the company that she has an “open door policy” and wants employees to stop by and offer suggestions in person, employees can’t be faced with five assistants and a waiting period of six months before they can actually meet with the CEO for 10 minutes.

Sometimes organizational change must occur within a matter of weeks, so obviously the process outlined above must be abbreviated. This does not mean, however, that any of the phases can be omitted. An organizational culture takes constant nurturing to develop, mature, and evolve….which means the people in your organization require constant nurturing and care to develop, mature, and evolve

Dr. Linda Gravett, Ph.D, SPHR is with Gravett & Associates (www.Gravett.com). If you have any questions or wish to share your comments with Linda, you can contact her at Linda@Gravett.com.

As Human Resource professionals, we often find ourselves in the position of advising others in their careers. Our unofficial job titles include counselor, parent, cheerleader, and seeker of truth. We’re busy doing this for others, but who is doing this for us? That’s where a Personal Advisory Board is helpful.

Why Have a Personal Advisory Board?

Each of us has unique competencies and talents that we summon up during our career to move us forward and contribute to professional and volunteer organizations. Most of us, however, have at least one or two areas in which our expertise and experience isn’t as rich as we would like. This is the reason for creating a Personal Advisory Board, so that we can round out our competencies and learn from advisers during the course of our career. The relationship that’s built with well-selected personal advisers can be very fulfilling; a gift that gives back all of our lives.

When Should I Establish a Personal Advisory Board?

I recommend that you create a Personal Advisory Board now; it’s not too soon. I developed my first group of advisers when I was 22, fresh out of undergraduate school, and transplanted to a supervisory position on an Air Force base in Japan. As a supervisor from a different culture and age group than most of my native Japanese staff, I needed guidance on being a woman – and a young one at that – supervising mostly men in a culture that did not support women working outside the home. My advisory board consisted of a Japanese neighbor, a man who had just retired from working for an American company in Japan; a female ex-patriot working for an American company in Japan; and a person in my field at the time (accounting) who worked in the same organization as myself. This team moved me along as a work-in-progress and kept me calm as I navigated a new world of work.

I believe that you’ll want different skills and talents represented on your Personal Advisory Board over the years. Have an eye to the future in terms of how you want your life to unfold, personally, spiritually, and in your career. Look around you (further than your back yard) and learn who has “been there, done that”…a person from whom you can learn. I’ve found, by the way, that my advisers are often younger than myself these days. They may have fewer years on the planet, but they have rich life experiences that inform my life.

Who Should I Invite to Participate on My Advisory Board?

For my advisers, I want people who will be brutally honest and straightforward with me, whether I’m asking about investments or adding a professional certification. That means that I don’t usually ask close friends to be on my Personal Advisory Board, although my advisers may evolve into friends over time. I look for skills and competencies I lack, to serve as a complement to my experiences and perspectives. Over the years, many GCHRA members have been on my Personal Advisory Board, and I appreciate them all.

Setting Expectations

So that the experience is positive and productive for both yourself and your advisers, I recommend that you set expectations up front as you ask individuals to join your Personal Advisory Board. Be prepared to answer questions such as:

How much time do you expect me to devote to being an adviser?

What kind of help are you looking for from me?

How long do you want me to be on your Personal Advisory Board?

A Personal Advisory Board is not typically compensated by salary. However, there are creative ways you can compensate advisers. I refer my advisers to paying clients if they are consultants or have a product to sell. I offer my consulting services for free in exchange for their assistance. I also bake them cookies!

How Often Should a Personal Advisory Board Meet?

I recommend that you meet three times a year, for 1 – 2 hours, as a group. Bringing everyone together creates a synergy and produces brainstorming that can leave you energized and motivated to move forward. I also meet with individual advisers, by phone or in person, once a month to touch base, and I seek out their counsel prior to making a major personal or professional decision. Of course, I pay for the lunch or dinner or have the meetings at my home and serve a meal.

Whether you’re at the Vice President level or just entering the Human Resources field, I believe an advisory board could benefit you.

Dr. Linda Gravett, Ph.D, SPHR is with Gravett & Associates (www.Gravett.com). If you have any questions, wish to share your comments, or would like suggestions on creating your Personal Advisory Board, you can contact Linda at Linda@Gravett.com.

If you could find a tool that would provide beneficial feedback to employees that would lead to performance improvement and bottomline results to the organization, would you take advantage of it? Many organizations have found such a tool and found many uses for it. For a number of years, this tool was viewed as a fad but it has survived that first impression and become a tool for organizational improvement. This tool is multi-rater feedback or 360 degree feedback.

Let’s start by defining multi-rater feedback so we are all on the same page:

Multi-rater feedback is a behavioral assessment focused on obtaining feedback on an individual’s performance relative to key behaviors from those around the individual including direct reports, peers, customers, supervisor, and even themselves. The concept of multi-rater feedback is that everyone who is interfacing with an individual has perceptions of how they feel the individual is performing. Too often, the supervisor is relied upon to provide this feedback. Not all supervisors have the opportunity to see the employee perform on a day to day basis or in all situations that the employee’s peers, direct reports, or customers may. Plus, by focusing the feedback on the behaviors needed to succeed on the job, the individual will have a better chance of identifying and implementing changes and improvements to those behaviors like communications, team orientation, or customer service.

But, before we get too far, we need to realize that multi-rater feedback is not necessarily the right tool for everyone. To begin with and most importantly, your organization must have a very high trusting culture. If employees don’t trust each other or the organization, they will either not participate in the multi-rater assessment or fail to provide the open and honest feedback necessary to benefit the individual and ultimately the bottomline of the organization. Some other issues to consider are:

Do employees feel like their input is valued?

Does everyone feel like they are treated fairly and equally?

Is there cooperation between units, teams, and/or departments?

Do the employees want this feedback?

Finally, for multi-rater feedback to succeed it must be championed and fully supported by management. This means managers must feel that multi-rater feedback does support the strategic goals and values of the organization. Therefore, they will support the time and resources needed through implementation and long-term development of behaviors.

Before we get into more specific details, there is one more thing we need to address. Will you be using the multi-rater feedback for appraisal (employment decisions) or development? At least in the beginning, if not always, multi-rater feedback must be used for development only. Even if you have the most trusting and supportive environment, your data / feedback from others will be corrupted if it impacts an employment decision (i.e. merit increase, promotion, termination). If you use it for development only, employees feel more comfortable providing open and honest feedback that will help someone else improve performance, which ultimately improves everyone’s performance. After time, you can assess whether or not your organization is ready to move from using the feedback for development to appraisal but it is definitely not recommended in the early stages.

So if your organization is ready for multi-rater feedback and is initially using it only for development, there are a number of ways that you can use the tool including: individual development, organizational culture change, teamwork, indirect input on an appraisal, customer input, or succession planning. Below are a few examples of how I have used multi-rater feedback with my clients:

Management Team: I designed and administered a multi-rater feedback tool to the top management team. The goal was to help the managers develop their management/leadership behaviors and obtain input on how the employees in the organization viewed each manager as well as the team. Each manager confidentially received their data and immediately used it to help improve their leadership. The feedback was exactly what the managers needed to move forward and gain the support of their employees!

New Team Leader: I had an individual who was taking on a new role as a team leader. In order to ensure he was effectively leading the team, I facilitated input from the team members to identify the expected behaviors of the team leader. He was then assessed every 60 days to see how he was doing as their new team leader. The motivation and support he received from the team through this effort was priceless; plus, he became the leader that they needed to succeed.

Employee Development: I’ve used multi-rate feedback for employee development in two different ways. First, I designed and administered it to all employees as a development tool to help employees continue to grow and develop in their careers with the organization. It was received by both management and employees as a win-win opportunity for the entire organization. Another way I have used multi-rater feedback is to help employees who don’t realize how others perceive their performance. By using the tool, we were able to identify some areas for improvement that would lead toward removing some of the negative perceptions others had of them.

Succession Planning: Every organization should have a succession plan for at least their key positions. To determine the readiness of an individual for a position, I have used multi-rater feedback to assess the individual’s behaviors relative to the key position they were being groomed for. We then began developing the areas of improvement so the individual would be ready when the succession plan was enacted.

As you can see, there are many ways that you can use multi-rater feedback to help improve an individual’s behavior which in turn improves the organization’s performance. To implement a multi-rater feedback program, you’ll need to do or think about the following:

Do you want to create your own instrument or buy one off the shelf?

What are the key behaviors of your organization or each position that you want to assess?

How will you define each behavior to ensure the quality of the assessment?

How many questions will be on your survey? (Note: It’s easy for this number to grow but depending on your organization, you want to keep it as low as possible while still providing quality results. Generally, between 20 – 50 questions is about right).

Do you want an outside organization to administer the process to enhance confidentiality or is there enough trust to do it internally?

Will the instrument be paper and pencil, computer based, web based, telephone service, or face to face interview?

What training or communications will you provide to the individuals being assessed, to the raters, and to the supervisors?

Who will choose the respondents: the employee or the supervisor?

How will you ensure the utmost confidentiality of the entire process?

What will the results look like? Will you provide one overall average for each behavior or break it down by type of respondent (i.e. peer, direct report, supervisor)? Will it be graphical and/or numerical? Will you identify the strengths or developmental needs for the employee?

Who will get the results: the employee, supervisor, or both?

Will a copy of the results be maintained in the employee’s file?

Who will discuss the results with the employee? Supervisor? HR? Internal Consultant? External Consultant? (No matter whom you select, be sure they are trained to provide effective feedback).

What supports will be available to help coach the employee through the development and implementation of an improvement plan?

How will you evaluate the entire program to ensure it is meeting its intended goals for the organization?

Multi-rater feedback takes a great deal of time and thought to been done correctly and effectively. You don’t want to spend all that time and effort and have the program fizzle. Organizations that have been able to use multi-rater feedback successfully have:

A commitment and link to their business goals and values.

An effective communication plan to ensure everyone understands and is comfortable with all aspects of the program.

An emphasis on confidentiality that is never breached.

Clear accountability and follow-up plans that are created to ensure development.

Many organizations have already begun to reap the benefits of multi-rater feedback through its many uses. You too can benefit! With the dramatic improvements in technology, many new off the shelf tools are coming available daily. Plus, with all this enhanced technology, it viable for you to create a customized tool yourself or through an external consultant for not much more. As you evaluate your organization’s effectiveness, be sure you consider how multi-rater feedback can help improve your organization’s performance. Isn’t it worth checking it out?

Randstad’s 2002 Employee Review (www.us.Randstad.com) showed that 92% of employees with regular performance reviews were satisfied with their manager or supervisor while only 72% of those with no regular reviews were satisfied. Repeatedly, we see supervisor effectiveness as one of the top reasons employees leave an organization. The cost of either an employee loss or just a loss in productivity from supervisor ineffectiveness could be very painful to the bottom-line. So, if this statistic is true, do we really want 20% of our workforce to be dissatisfied with our managers simply because they do not have regular performance reviews? If not, then we need to provide managers with techniques and tools to make performance reviews less painful and more beneficial.

Beyond this statistical analysis and potential cost, let’s talk about some other reasons why a manager should do performance reviews. To begin with, every employee in the organization contributes to the success of the organization or they wouldn’t be there. So, providing feedback to employees on their performance impacts the performance of the organization. Next, how often are we told we aren’t communicating enough? If done right, performance management provides multiple ways to improve communications between managers and employees, which will improve morale and retention. Next, we are all human and actually are motivated by assessment, feedback and recognition which is one of the purposes of performance management. Last but definitely not the end to the list, performance management helps build self esteem which leads to greater commitment and better work relations for everyone. Wouldn’t your managers like to reap some of these benefits?

Before you can provide guidance to your managers, you need to be sure you are providing them with effective tools and resources. Evaluate the effectiveness of your performance management program, top management support, evaluation tool, policies and procedures, and communication and training of the program. Once you have these components in place with input and involvement of your managers and employees, you are ready to hand the baton to the managers for implementation.

When you pass the baton to the managers, there are a number of guidelines you can provide to help make their jobs easier and more effective. To begin with, managers should be aware of the common mistakes that we all tend to fall into and do their best to avoid and prevent these:

Halo / horn effect: This is where we get caught focusing too much of our review on one event whether it was good (halo) or bad (horn).

Recency: Too often, we focus too much on events that happened recently and forget those that happened early in the review period both positive and negative.

Bias: Each of us is very different that’s why we are human. As managers, we need to be sure our own values, beliefs, or prejudices are not influencing how we evaluate our employees’ performance on the job.

Strictness / Leniency: There are often two types of managers. One is the type that is very reluctant to ever give someone a high rating. In their mind, nobody is outstanding and always can improve. But on the other hand, you have the type that doesn’t like giving low scores to anyone. The result of either of this situation is that everyone great, good, or needing improvement tends to get the same ratings (i.e. three or four) with little differentiation for performance.

Contrast: Many times managers make the mistake of comparing one employee to another rather than just evaluating the employee’s performance.

By helping your managers become aware of these mistakes so they can avoid them will result in more quality reviews, which will benefit the managers, employees, and the organization.

Next, another common mistake we make with performance reviews is that we fail to do our homework well before actually doing a performance review. Below is a list of some of the things that should be done before the review:

Review the employee’s job requirements / description (if it is wrong, this is the best time to update it).

Review the goals you and the employee set at the beginning of the plan year (notice I said that you AND the employee set at the BEGINNING of the plan year).

Review the employee’s past performance reviews

Seek input from others that interface more regularly with the employee than you

Ask the employee to self evaluate him or herself and provide it to you in advance

Identify variances between your review of the employee and their self evaluation

Identify many positive and developmental examples so you don’t get stuck referring to the same situations over and over in your review

Identify career development opportunities for the employee as well as future goals

Develop questions that can be used to engage the employee in the review session so it is a two way conversation

Develop an agenda to ensure all key points are covered during the session

As you can tell, this is a great deal of homework that should be done in advance of the actual review session. This means, a manager should schedule a review session a few weeks or more ahead of time. This will not only give the manager time to do this homework but make the employee feel like their review is important enough that the manager wanted to schedule it well in advance to give both of them time to prepare.

The homework may end when the session begins but there are still a number of things that a manager can do to ensure the session goes smoothly. First, be sure to schedule the session in a neutral, confidential location with no opportunities for interruptions. If it has to be in the manager’s office, be sure both the employee and manager sit in front of the desk not across the desk from each other. Second, the manager needs to pay attention to his or her non-verbals. The employee is already nervous about the session and non-verbals can be very threatening or very comforting. For example, it is more comforting to see open hand gestures than pointing. And, regular eye contact shows commitment and interest where as the opposite can be interpreted as no interest or hiding something. Third, it is important to start the conversation with something positive and be sure to use “I” or “you” as often as possible. Doesn’t it sound better to say “I was so impressed with the outstanding job you did on the Smith project” rather than “you did a great job on the Smith project”? Fourth, a manager needs to ask many open questions (i.e. what, how, describe for me, etc.) to involve the employee and listen. Believe it or not, 60 – 70% of this meeting should be listening to the employee not the manager. Last, be sure to provide the employee with lots of examples to support the feedback being provided. This will help the employee understand both positive and developmental feedback and use it more effectively.

While it may feel like the performance review session is over once the feedback has been provided, it is also important to close the session right. Be sure the manager and the employee end by setting new goals for the coming plan year. Also, it is important that the manager summarize what he or she is going to do to help the employee during this plan year. Last, let the employee digest the information provided in the session and then get back together to sign the written summary. This will allow the employee time to think about what was said and talk to the manager about any concerns rather than all of his or her co-workers.

Most of these guidelines so far have focused on what to do to prepare to conduct the annual performance review session. This day is very stressful for both the employee and manager. These guidelines will help ease but not eliminate that stress. Another tip that will help ease and maybe even eliminate that stress is provide feedback to employees on a regular and ongoing basis. If employees receive feedback immediately, it will immediately have a positive impact on their performance. Plus, this leaves no surprises for the end of the year review, which is better for everyone.

As you probably can tell, many of these techniques and tools are common sense. But, like with time management, we need the refresher to remind us to do them. Develop a tool kit for your managers with some of these reminders for them to review a few months before performance reviews are due. This will help give them the encouragement to use your performance management tool effectively. Remember, we are all human which means we thirst for feedback both positive and developmental to be the best we can be.

How often do we, as HR professionals, really stop and think about our work environment? As an outsider looking in, is this a nice place to work? Do the people seem nice? Do they get along? Do they seem happy? We are constantly barraged with articles, webinars and blogs on employee engagement, retention, rewards. There are countless strategies on how to increase and improve in these areas, not to mention the strategic impact on the organization as a whole. If you are a numbers person, there are a ton of different metrics you can use to measure these indicators.

Let’s keep it simple. Do I like where I work? Do I like the people? Do I feel I am treated well and fairly? Would I recommend a friend to work there, so they could be happy? How would our employees answer these questions? What do you hear and observe as you walk around your organization? Are employees smiling, maybe even laughing? Does conversation stop when you walk by or are you greeted with a friendly hello?

As a consultant, I do a fair amount of training. I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of different organizations. A somewhat common request is for Workplace Harassment training, which I view as a positive. I am always curious to learn the motivation for the company doing the training. Is it to check a box for legal compliance, to address a specific issue, or are they truly concerned about the work environment? Hopefully it’s a combination of all three.

From my view, it’s bigger than just things that constitute harassment, discrimination, and now more increasingly, workplace bullying. I view this as an opportunity to build a positive work environment. Sometimes it’s important to step away from the planning, strategy and metrics and just take in the environment. In my training, I try to shift focus away from what can be perceived as negative to a more positive perspective. We are all responsible for having a positive working environment. Where negativity can spread like wildfire, so can friendliness and being pleasant.

It’s not uncommon, as I gain some insight into a workplace during a training session, that I am able to identify “the fun group” – the employees who are more outgoing. They may be the ones whose humor, behaviors and comments may sometimes stray into questionable areas, the ones less appropriate for work. As I look around the room, I can also tell how other employees perceive this group. Is the “fun” they are having at the expense of others or the workplace as a whole?

My goal is for each person in the training to see how his or her behaviors may be impacting their coworkers and the organization. Every employee’s attitude and actions make a difference. Don’t get me wrong, everyone has a bad day. In a great work environment, this is where others can help to lift that person up, and in doing so, lift the entire organization.

If you can take the time to address any negativity, that can avoid a lot of other issues. Often, employees just don’t realize how their own behaviors may be affecting anyone else. I’m not naive enough to think all is rosy, and there will never be any issues. But when the organization is more aware, there can certainly be a lot fewer of those issues.

When people truly like and enjoy where they work, and with whom they work, imagine what retention and engagement could actually look like. Rewards will mean something special, not to mention those numbers and metrics.

According to research done by Jessica Pryce-Jones, CEO of iOpener, and her team, “The happiest employees are 180% more energized than their less content colleagues, 155% happier with their jobs, 150% happier in life, 108% more engaged and 50% more motivated, Most staggeringly, they are 50% more productive too.” The research also showed that the happiest employees take 66% less sick time than their less content counterparts. (Forbes, 8/4/10)

As I say in my training, having a positive work environment is not rocket science. Treat each other with courtesy and respect and throw in a little bit of “The Golden Rule”. Before you say it, before you do it, think how you would feel if someone said or did that to you. Then, take it one step further. How would you feel if someone said that to your mother, or your son or daughter? That’s a concept that any employee can relate to.

Cathleen Snyder, CIR, SPHR, is happily a Senior Human Resources Consultant with Strategic Human Resources. Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or wish to share your comments or success stories, you can contact Cathleen at Cathleen@strategicHRinc.com.

My schedule is different depending on the day of week and even season of year. I’m grateful that my life is not dictated by a work schedule. My career is just one facet of my life and overall schedule. It doesn’t exist in a silo, but rather blends with other activities that consume my time and define who I am. What doesn’t change day-to-day is what I want to accomplish:

Be a loving and nurturing mother and wife.

Provide for my family.

Build and sustain relationships.

Produce outstanding results for my employer.

Give back.

Dedicate time to my own spirituality and wellness (so I can be successful at all of the above)

These objectives have long been on my plate; however, how I go about accomplishing them and the ease of balancing them has changed drastically over the past two years through the ability to work flex hours and telecommute. I share my story for two reasons:

For Individuals: In hopes that it might inspire you to pursue a better balance in your life. It’s had a significant impact on my overall happiness and quality of life. To read more from this perspective, visit a separate blog post on the Core Chat site.

For Organizational Leaders: To encourage you to create win-wins all around and hopefully move past some of the myths and fears of offering job flexibility.

To read more from this perspective, continue on to the list of myths below:

Myth #1 – Flexible work arrangements are only valuable to working parents.

Reducing fuel expenses is not only advantageous for parents. Neither is eating healthy dinners because you didn’t feel rushed after a long commute. Or sleeping in on occasion to revitalize your body and mind without the fear of everyone whispering as you step off the elevator. This is a quality of life discussion, not a working parent discussion.

Myth #2 – Flexible work arrangements are only valuable to employees and just a headache for employers.

In addition to enhancing the overall well being of your employees (which directly impacts your bottom line), below are a few sometimes overlooked benefits:

Productivity: The consultancy Workshifting found, on average, a 27% rise in productivity among telecommuting employees.

Total Compensation: A survey by the Information Technology Association of America found that 36 percent of respondents would choose telecommuting over a pay raise. Just another tool in your total rewards bucket.

Talent Pool: Having a hard time filling open positions with the perfect fit? Expanding the search outside your city limits may help.

Environmental: Half-time telecommuting could reduce carbon emissions by over 51 million metric tons a year (Global Workplace Analytics). Tracking your employees’ carbon footprint could reflect well on your corporate social responsibility score card.

Myth #3 – When employees work from home, they are too distracted by their kids.

Your employees’ children should not be home while they are working (particularly young children). An alternate care provider is still needed.

Myth #4 – If it’s not going to work for all of my employees, then I shouldn’t let anyone do it.

Workplace flexibility is not a one-size-fits-all solution. My brother is a chef. My sister is a Nurse Practitioner. They can’t do their work from home and have certain hours they need to be onsite. You can’t always standardize a solution, but you can provide guidelines and partner with your managers to determine what might work for them. Much of the “opening up a can of worms” dilemma can be avoided by proactively managing expectations.

Myth #5 – I can just find someone else to do the job who will work the more traditional (and increasingly archaic) arrangement.

Are you living in the same “talent war” era as me? Acquiring and retaining top talent is more critical to your organization’s success than ever before. Ready to reach into your pockets? One study found the average cost of turnover to be one-fifth of an employee’s annual salary (Center for American Progress).

Don’t think your top performers will leave? They will. There are many other employers willing to give them flexibility. Think you can keep them happy with a gift card? Not gonna work. Empowerment and quality of life will always win in the end. Even a bonus or increased salary may keep them around a few months, but that’s it.

If you’re a manager, I’d venture to bet you still have some hesitations. Do any of these resonate?

My boss wouldn’t let me, why should I let my employees? – This one is easy to address – get over it. Don’t let resentment influence how you lead your team.

I won’t be able to keep tabs on my employees. – Gone are the days of this old-school management philosophy. Employees don’t need “bosses” – they need leaders, coaches, and mentors.

Employers need to focus MORE on results and LESS on the when and where. Work with your employees to establish SMART objectives. If they aren’t performing, develop an improvement plan. If they still don’t perform, let them go.

It will be too hard to communicate with my team if they aren’t sitting within walking distance.

Communication and collaboration might feel a bit choppy at first, but your team will create new dynamics using a myriad of communication technologies that are at your disposal to help foster remote collaboration and cultivate team spirit.

It’s too hard to schedule team meetings and events.

It can be difficult – I won’t argue that. Setting dates early and sharing calendars will go a long way.

The Chicken or the Egg?

Sometimes I’m told that my story is the exception. That my experience with flexible schedules has been successful because I am passionate about my work, driven, have a solid work ethic, and highly respect my employer relationship. I would challenge you though to think about what came first? Maybe I’m that way as a result of being empowered, trusted, treated like the responsible adult, and valued by someone who actually cares about my overall well being. I don’t carry around resentment. Think of the power you have as a leader to lift that off someone else’s back and the benefits your business will reap as a result.

As an author and frequent speaker on the generations in the workplace, I’m often asked “what has happened to the work ethic of our workers?” Has work ethic really changed? Or, is it a matter of how we are getting work done that has actually changed?

Radio Babies (Born 1930 – 1945)

The Radio Babies grew up when having a job wasn’t necessarily the easiest thing to do. So, keeping a job was very important. As such, we see this generation, even today, having 110% loyalty to the company. They will likely be the first one to the office and the last one to leave. To them, a work ethic is giving all the time you can possibly give to the company.

Baby Boomers (1946 – 1964)

The Baby Boomers were dubbed the Baby Boomer generation because there are lots and lots of them. As a result, to get noticed and succeed on the job meant being seen. Your boss and the company needed to “SEE” you. If you were seen, then it was perceived that you were loyal and flexible to the company. So, when we asked them what work ethic means to them, it isn’t a surprise that we were told “face time”.

Gen Xers (1965 – 1976)

The Gen Xers grew up in a very different time than the previous two generations. For one, their parents were often both working or separated with a single working parent. Because of work commitments, the parents weren’t around and the kids were often left to their own devices. Secondly, this generation also saw their parents being loyal to their employer and getting downsized after so many years of loyalty. As a result, the work ethic for this generation is ensuring a good balance between work and personal life.

Gen Ys (1977 – 1990)

>Gen Ys do not believe that work defines who they are. They generally work to live not live to work, which is a big change from previous generations. They’ve grown up with technology exploding at warp speed providing “new ways” to work. As a result, their idea of work ethic is working wherever they can when they want to. This generation’s idea of work ethic is work shouldn’t interrupt their lives and can be done anywhere, anytime.

Millennials (1991 – present)

Our youngest generation, the Millennials, are still establishing what their work ethic will look like for them. However, in talking with them, it seems that they have grown up with the “option” to work or not work, with minimal encouragement from their parents. As the trophy generation, they have been doted on and feel that their personal life is more important. We’ve also found this generation needs deadlines to get work done. No need to do today what can be done tomorrow.

So, what does this all mean? Has work ethic gone down the tubes? I don’t think so. If you re-read each description of work ethic by the generations, they are all talking about “how” they do the work. But, in reality, isn’t work ethic about getting the job done? If so, then we should be focused on the output of the work and not the process we use to get there. One person may get the job done by working a 15 hour day and another may get it done by working a short day and additional hours at night. If the work is completed correctly and submitted on time, it shouldn’t matter how or when it’s worked on, as long as they get it done, and get it done right.

This is a very hard concept for many to accept. We often want other generations to get work done “the way we do”. We have to learn to accept our differences, and focus on the end results. If the results aren’t there, it becomes a performance problem, not a work ethic issue.

Bottom line; work ethic has evolved and changed, but it is still strong in the workplace. We just need to learn that work ethic is about the output and not the process.

Every Human Resource practitioner I talk with agrees with me on one thing: there is no such thing as a perfect feedback instrument and process. However, the “360” process, when planned and executed well, comes pretty close.

I’ve worked with organizations using this process for 12 years and observed some wonderful advantages to the “360” process… and some pitfalls. I’d like to share both in this article.

First, I want to clarify what I mean when I refer to the term, “360” feedback. This is a process in which an employee or manager receives feedback about his or her competencies from peers, supervisors, direct reports, and internal and external customers. It’s a complete picture of the impact one has on those with whom he or she interacts on a frequent basis. Many companies use a “180” feedback process instead, which allows for feedback from peers, the supervisor, and direct reports (if applicable).

Advantages to the “360” Process

Let’s face it: a supervisor can’t be there to observe all the interactions, strengths, and opportunities for improvement for direct reports, especially if the span of control is wide. So why should we expect the supervisor to be the only person to provide performance feedback? We shouldn’t.

A major advantage to the “360” process is that it provides an opportunity for all those people with whom a person comes into frequent contact to offer feedback. A caveat here is that the raters should be people that truly have observed an employee or manager on a frequent basis. It’s not fair to ask people for input that haven’t had a chance to observe someone’s skills, talents, and abilities on a regular basis.

When feedback comes from many sources, it’s more difficult for a person to brush aside constructive criticism and rationalize that “the boss just has it in for me”. If several people suggest that a manager needs to improve verbal communication skills, chances are high that this is indeed a necessary area for improvement.

Another advantage of the “360” process is that it is designed with a customer focus in mind. The customers can be internal or external. Unfortunately, it’s difficult for some employees to understand the impact their daily activities have on other individuals or departments within the company. However, if they receive direct and frequent feedback on how their behaviors affect others, employees are more likely to be attentive to deadlines and quality requirements. They learn how to make their company look good, not just themselves.

I recommend that “360” performance evaluations are coupled with competency-based job descriptions. When this occurs, an employee or manager is recruited based on core competencies for his or her position AND evaluated on those same competencies. In HR, we often hear this complaint: “My performance evaluation is not even remotely connected to my job description.” There should be a direct connection, and the “360” process can assure this happens. The core competencies, by the way, should be supportive of the company’s strategic objectives. In deriving these competencies, the company’s leadership must ask, “what skills, knowledge, and behaviors do we need across the organization to meet the challenges of our mission and vision”?

The “360” evaluation is particularly strong when coupled with an action plan developed by the person receiving feedback and shared with those who provided the feedback. This action plan demonstrates that the feedback was heard and that, assuming suggestions are reasonable, will be put to use as soon as possible.

Pitfalls in the “360” Process

If you’ve tried the “360” process in your company without success, it may be for some of the following reasons.

If allowed to do so, people might be tempted to ask their friends in the company to be the ones who receive feedback instruments. This would definitely tip the scales in their favor and help ensure that no negative comments are made. The process must be carefully designed to minimize the possibility that this handpicking doesn’t occur. I recommend that each person receiving feedback send the instrument to at least 10 people, and these people must be those with whom they interact on a frequent basis. Even if some of those people could possibly offer negative comments.

One significant pitfall I’ve observed is when companies send out “360” evaluations to raters without advance notice or information about how to use the instrument. When an organization decides to implement a “360” review process, two sets of employees and managers must be trained on how to effectively use the process: those receiving feedback and those offering feedback. Training should also include objectives of the process and the impact on the organization.

I strongly recommend that each person receiving feedback, especially for the first time in this process, has a coach to help assess the comments and ratings and to develop an action plan. The coach could be the same person who compiles the results and should be an external consultant or internal consultant from Human Resources. By the way, I also recommend that the instruments are anonymous and are sent directly to the person compiling the results. The person receiving the feedback should not see the instruments.

A Few Closing Thoughts

The “360” performance review process can be comprehensive, positive, and effective if time is devoted on the front end to design the process for maximum impact. The time is well worth taking.

Regardless of the type of performance management process your organization employs, I hope you’ll give serious consideration to developing companion competency-based job descriptions and evaluations. When competencies (or behaviors) are used, employees have a more concrete understanding of exactly why they aren’t meeting job requirements and what areas they need to improve upon to be successful in their work.

Dr. Linda Gravett, Ph.D., SPHR, is with Gravett & Associates (www.Gravett.com). If you have any questions or comments, you can contact Linda at Linda@Gravett.com.

The competition to obtain top talent has finally arrived, and as a result, many companies are trying to find ways to attract and retain the folks they need to drive the business. While there are certainly many ways to appear as a company of choice to job seekers, there is one that is virtually foolproof. More and more employees today are searching for ways to spend more time with their families or even on their personal hobbies and interests. Therefore, one company benefit that prospective employees may be looking for while conducting a job search is a work/life balance program. In addition, employees are looking for companies who are willing to invest in their employees’ development. Successful individuals often want to be assured that there are leadership development programs at their disposal that will support their learning of new skills in order to help them grow. Many companies already have these offerings in place. However, some companies are still not yet on board with these ways of attracting top talent. If your company is currently missing these opportunities, you may be looking for a way to convince them to get on board. If so, here are some tips for taking on this endeavor.

The best way to proceed is to draft a proposal that clearly states your suggestions, how they would be implemented, any costs (if none, highlight this fact!), and the return on investment. Specific and quantifiable research, showing that companies with these policies not only have happier employees, but a more productive workforce, will only help to bolster your case.

For example, if you propose a flexible work schedule program, a good information source is the Society for Human Resources Management Web site (www.SHRM.org) and their archived articles. Once you have facts about how flexible work schedules can benefit the company, state the specifics of what the program should look like. Should it offer flexible start and end times? If so, within what limits? Would people come and go as they please, or would they need to commit to a specific shift for an unspecified amount of time? Would there be a record-keeping component to the program, and if so, who would be responsible for that? The best way to create this proposal is to partner with your Human Resources department, since most likely, this department would be administering any work/life benefits.

Flexible work schedules are a great benefit for a company to offer because there is no financial cost, yet it makes employees very happy. Just about everyone loves having this option and the opportunity that a flexible schedule gives people to plan their lives.

You also could suggest flexible work weeks, which involves compressing work time into fewer days to have more time off. For instance, our company has a flex week program in which employees work 40 hours in 4 and a half days, taking a half-day during that week as time off. This allows for things such as appointments that can only be made during the daytime, starting your weekend early, or being able to make that talent show in the middle of the school day for a child.

To create a persuasive proposal, cite best practices used by other companies that are considered great places to work. It is also important to include direct comments from employees, such as requests from existing or even departed employees. This feedback could be obtained by exit interviews or opinion surveys. Above all, your focus should be on making sure that whatever plan is developed supports the business needs – – this must be the top priority.

Leadership training is another great way to show employees that you do care about their future beyond their current role. There are several ways to propose this kind of resource. You could research area training facilities to find out if they would give your employees a discount in exchange for the company’s willingness to advertise their services to employees. This would be an off-site option. For onsite training, you could research fees for facilitators in the area to do specific training for a department, or you could open it up to interested employees throughout the company. Lastly, you could pitch the idea to an existing Human Resources professional in your company and see if they would be willing to take on the role of an in-house trainer or if they have ideas to tap into extra resources for such a task. There are many classes available in the marketplace, so if you are looking for some specific leadership classes, you might want to do your homework on those as well. Decide what kind of classes you think would benefit the greatest number of people at your worksite. The more employees they benefit, the greater return on investment your company will see, thereby ensuring a better chance for management buy-in.

Best of luck to you in your proposal. Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen right away — this is a tough area to break into. Keep trying and you may very well succeed!

Meredith C. Keith Chirch, MA, PHR is a Human Resources Manager with Federated Corporate Services, Inc., a division of Federated Department Stores. If you have questions or comments on this article, you can contact Meredith at Meredith.Keith.Chirch@fds.com.

Many of us would immediately answer yes to the question “Is Your NETworking?” But do you realize what networking really is? Do you understand the value that can be gained by networking? Do you do the appropriate preparation prior to a networking event? Do you follow-up after meeting a potential network contact? What are some resources available to help promote your networking opportunities? Let’s find out…

Let’s begin by defining networking so we are all on the same page. Believe it or not, according to Webster’s Dictionary networking is “The act of process of informally sharing information or support, especially among members of a professional group.” To expand on this, networking is who you know and more importantly who knows you!!!

Most of us are so busy that we feel like we don’t have time to network. So comes the question, why should you network?

To gain or share expertise or information
(For example — tips on human resources practices or best practices)

To increase exposure for company or self
(For example — what company doesn’t need increased exposure in this market?)>

Develop contacts for future use
(For example — you never know when you may need to call a contact for a job or help)

Although most of us know how to network, because time gets the best of us, we often skip a critical step in the networking process. Generally, the steps are (which don’t necessarily fall in this order ever time):

Brainstorm what YOU know
You do know something. Think about what others compliment you on. You may even want to write it down and review it later for an ego boost and reminder of what your expertise is.

Identify who you know
Consider any affiliations you may have that could help you like a human resources association, previous co-worker, or even a neighbor.

Identify what you need
In the human resources profession, we often needs tips on how to implement an HR activity, referrals for those hard to fill positions, or just looking for your next job.

Identify how you will get it
What is going to be the best avenue for you to get what you need? Is it going to be by going to the next association meeting? Sending a correspondence vie email or mail to your network? Directly calling select contacts?

Do it
This is the step that is often skipped. If you have plans to go to an association meeting (to network), don’t just go but go on-time (or a few minutes early) so you can take advantage of the time to network plus don’t run out the minute the meeting is over – network.

Take notes
We can’t remember everything! Always take notes after a networking opportunity. This may mean writing a physical description of the person on their business card or just notes about what you talked about or what you can follow-up with them about.

Follow-up
No matter what, always follow-up. You should even follow-up if it is just to say thank you for the opportunity to talk at the meeting. You never know when that individual you just met may be a key to something you need in the future. Believe me, they will remember you if you take the time to follow-up.

Track results
Develop a system to help you track your network. Some folks like to track their network in a rolodex or business card holder. Others use technology to track their network contacts in the email manager (i.e. Outlook). It really doesn’t matter as long as the system works for you. Be sure your system helps you find: a person, contact information, how you know the person, when you last spoke to them, etc.

Reciprocate
Don’t always be on the receiving end or your network will quickly dry up. Be sure you are also giving as much as your network is giving to you. Remember, what comes around goes around.

With the basics under your belt, you next need to brainstorm where you can begin networking. Some ideas include:

Join a local and national human resources association but more importantly go to the meetings on-time and GET INVOLVED!

Participate on various chat boards

Get involved with local affiliations (i.e. Chamber of Commerce, Roundtable meetings, Manager groups)

and of course — use our HR Network to post your issues and begin networking with other Strategic HR Inc. clients.

Bottom-line, networking takes place anytime and anywhere. Networking requires you to give and receive expertise or information. By effectively networking, you will absolutely reap the benefits both now and in the future. So always be prepared to network. This means you should never leave home without a business card…

Have you seen the IBM commercials that focus on some gadget that is the key to your business success (i.e. crystal ball, magical genie lamp)? They are right, there is no magical solution to solving your business problems. But, if I could share a nugget of information with you that would help ensure that your company could obtain a unique competitive advantage, would you be willing to listen? AND, take action? What if I told you many of those solutions will only cost you a little time and a minimal amount of money? What do you have to lose?

We’ve seen our economy go up and down over the past four or five years with many more challenges ahead of us. I’ve seen employers tighten and loosen their belts with each change and with no regard to what may come next. With this last downturn in the economy, many employers cut their most important resource — the people — as though they were a disposable resource. Plus, in an effort to cut costs immediately, many companies not only cut staff but also eliminated severance, outplacement benefits, and any form of advance notice. In many cases, these actions were done without any regard for the staff members left behind. What taste has been left in the mouths of the surviving workforce? Remember, this is the workforce that is going to be depended upon to run the business and ensure continued success tomorrow. Believe me, I hear the stories daily from many individuals and they aren’t very favorable.

Did you know that according to futurist Roger Herman, surveys suggest that 30 – 40 percent of our workforce have already “checked out,” meaning they are more concerned about their next job than doing their current job? Can you afford to have this large of a percent of your workforce uncommitted to you or better yet leave you tomorrow? Not to mention, those that leave you will talk to others outside the organization and how easy will it be to attract “good replacements”?

I’m already starting to get calls from employers saying things like “…there just aren’t any qualified applicants out there…when we find one, they are snatched up in no time.” Does this sound like an issue we should even need to address in an economy with such high unemployment? Absolutely, considering how little regard has been given to employee retention over the last few years combined with the fact that YES we are about to face one of the largest labor shortages in our lifetimes.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in just America alone, we will have nearly 168 million jobs to be filled by skilled workers by the year 2010 but our workforce supply will only be about 158 million. Remember those signing bonuses we had to offer in the late 1990’s when the labor market was tight? Well, they will be minimal to what we will be faced with by 2010 if we don’t start focusing on retention NOW. Sure there are a number of folks still unemployed, some good and some mediocre. But, you need to proactively create a program that will retain and attract the best today and tomorrow.

The cost of an effective retention program is minimal to the cost of your turnover. Did you know that the general rule of thumb for the cost of turnover is about 100 – 150% of the terminating employee’s salary? Can you afford this if just half of those 30 – 40 percent of your employees that are “checked out” leave tomorrow?

Employees are leaving organizations even in this tight economy. Some individuals may be hesitating or waiting for the labor market to improve but have already “checked out.” So, when the economy rebounds, and it will, there will be no need for any hesitation from these “checked out” employees as employers begin begging for qualified skilled applicants.

Do you know why employees leave your organization? According to Development Dimensions International, the top five reasons why employees stay or leave an organization are:

Quality of relationship with supervisor

Ability to balance work and home life

Amount of meaningful work — the feeling of making a difference>

Level of cooperation with co-workers

Level of trust in the workplace

Have you asked your employees why they stay or leave your organization? Your best resource is to interview the employees as they leave or after they’ve been gone for a short while. Better yet, find out before they leave. Ask your employees why they like working for your company and what can you do better? Then, use the results to capitalize on your strengths and improve the areas that they bring to your attention. But, don’t ask if you have no intention of taking action. The idea of exit interviews that never result in organizational changes or improvements is similar to an ineffectively administered suggestion program. If you can’t do what they are asking, let them know and task them to come up with alternative options to make it happen.

In trying to retain good employees, you’ll quickly find there isn’t one solution. The demographics of our workforce now include more women, more minorities, various religions, and four differing generations. The combinations of these demographics will influence what you should do to retain and attract the best employees. You’ll have to be creative and implement multiple solutions that will address each individual’s needs.

Possible Solutions…

Recently, Inc. magazine published an article on Managing One-to-One by Leigh Buchanan stating that the best way to retain your employees is to manage each one differently. Find out what each needs and what is important in their lives. This will help you accommodate the differences as well as build trust and support with your workers.

To meet these individual needs, you will need to offer a variety of benefits or programs. Money isn’t everything anymore. Folks like things that make their lives easier and help them balance work and personal life. But, what exactly makes their life easier varies from person to person. For some, they may want more time off or flextime while others may want concierge services like onsite car wash, oil change, dry cleaning, or dinners to go. Some employees may need childcare assistance while others may need aging parent assistance. As mentioned above, the best way to find out is to ask! Many of these ideas will only cost you the time to implement and will actually fund themselves. But, as a result, your employees will feel you care about them and are trying to do things to help make their lives more livable.

Another solution involves your supervisors. One of the toughest things to do is to be both a manager and a coach. Like trying to be a mother and a friend to your child, it is easy to be one or the other but not both. But, it takes both to effectively retain your employees. The traditional more common role is the manager, which is focused on day to day issues of managing the staff including performance, feedback, discipline, and getting the job done. All of these issues are important but to ensure a trusting workplace, meaningful work, and strong supervisor relationship coaching skills are critical. Coaches help employees develop and grow within the organization and in their careers by guiding, listening, advocating, counseling, and communicating with their employees. To effectively retain employees, your managerial staff must develop both management and coaching skills.

The key to retention is realizing your employees are a valuable resource to an organization. If they weren’t then you wouldn’t need them at all. But many times, organizations fail to ensure their employees feel like they are a value or asset to the organization. One of the best places to start is by sharing the company goals with the employee and directly linking them to the responsibilities of the employee at the beginning of the plan year. This will help ensure employees know what they do contributes to the success of the company and what exactly is expected of them.

Also, to help employees feel like a value to the organization, you could implement a formal suggestion program. Who knows ways to improve the organization better than the individuals doing the work? And, when done right, employees will eagerly share their ideas and definitely feel they make a difference. You will need to have management support and commitment to the program. Plus, you’ll need to decide how you will reward and/or recognize employees for their suggestions. Many successful organizations even share the savings with the employee who makes a recommendation or at least recognize them in meetings and/or company wide publications.

To elaborate on recognition, I would recommend that you develop formal and informal ways to recognize your employees. Employees are human and humans like feedback, both positive and negative. Your managers need to be coached and trained to provide regular and ongoing feedback and recognition to their employees. Many managers struggle in providing ongoing feedback to employees. Remember, just a simple “thank you” or “I noticed you put a lot of time into…” or “you did an outstanding job on the XYZ project…” will have a huge impact on employees. To help your supervisors, you can facilitate a roundtable discussion for them share experiences or concerns with feedback or designate a person to be available to help them. These simple actions will make the world of difference. Plus, don’t forget to develop some formal recognition programs even for simple things such as employee of the week, perfect attendance, helping hand, outstanding teamwork, employee referrals, project completion, etc.

One other must for an organization to effectively retain a great workforce is communication. Have you ever heard employees in an organization complain that their company communicates too much? It’s impossible!!! You cannot over communicate and employees need to be kept informed. How you provide the communication depends on your organization. It may be through all employee meetings, memos, newsletters, emails, or one-on-one from a supervisor but the key is to communicate it several ways to ensure everyone hears the information.

If you are still saying “why should I do this?” and the facts about our labor shortage aren’t enough, then hear this: according to DDI, when retention is above average, organizations realize greater customer satisfaction, employee productivity, and most importantly profitability. And, if their research isn’t enough for you, listen to what Michael Rowan, president and CEO of Humility of Mary Health Partners quoted to Business & Legal Reports, “Our greatest resource is our people. We believe that if our employees are happy and feel fairly compensated and respected, then the hospital and patients will be the ones that would reap the most benefits.”

So, like IBM says we don’t have a magic jeanie in a bottle to grant you wishes but by following some of these tips you will realize a strong competitive advantage which will in return have a positive impact to your bottomline.

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or wish to share your comments with Robin, you can contact her at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

Each year whether we are in a recession or boom, we continue to hear statistics ranging from 60 – 85% of our workers are actively seeking employment. Employers often find themselves in disbelief that these numbers apply to them, especially if they’ve been lulled into low turnover rates – UNTIL their best employees exit out the door right before the eyes. The fact is we have more jobs available than we do candidates. And, your best recruitment solution starts with re-recruiting your current staff.

No matter what the state of the economy, the best employees can always leave at any time. But, once one or two leave, others start feeling more confident that they can too! Turnover is contagious. So, what are you doing to prevent a mass exodus from happening to your organization? If there was there was such a thing as a magic bullet to retention, I’d say it would be….ASK YOUR EMPLOYEES!!! You’ll find out exactly what will do the trick. Some of the best ways to do this include:

Employee Surveys: Whether you call the survey an employee opinion, engagement, satisfaction or climate survey, the key is you want to find out information from your employees about how they feel about your company, supervisors, work conditions, job, and even intentions for staying. Make sure the survey is anonymous and you must respond to the data with action. What are you going to do with the feedback and if you can’t do anything with it, why not?

Focus Groups: The same type of information can be gathered by a neutral third party in focus groups. Ask employees why they come to work each day, what they like about the company, what they dislike, and what would they like to see improved? You may be surprised at some of the simple solutions employees may provide that you never even thought about. But, again, be ready to take action and respond to employees with what the company is doing with the results so the employees know their voices have been heard.

Exit Interviews: Don’t give up on asking employees who are leaving these same types of questions. You may find they are more willing to share vital information right before they leave or better yet a few months later. Which of these two times gets you the best results from exiting employees? What trends are you seeing from departing employees? What are you doing with the results?

It is critical you start creating retention solutions that work in your organization NOW! Don’t wait until you lose that first key employee. Once you know what employees want, start implementing some of the solutions they shared to help retain your workers. You’ll most likely find yourself implementing some of the following “stay strategies” depending on your workforce and what they tell you:

Supervisor Training: How many of your supervisors have become supervisors but never received formal training? Do they have the skills to effectively coach, motivate, empower, communicate, delegate and most importantly represent the company in the right way? Remember, in many cases, the supervisor is the company to the employee.

Leadership & Direction: With the economy in flux from year to year, many companies find their organization doing the same. How clear is the direction from leadership? Do employees feel like they have clear goals and expectations set from the supervisor and the leadership of the organization? Does the organization have clear cut policies and procedures that are applied fairly and consistently across the organization? If not, now is the time to tighten up and make your employees realize the ship is on course and has some strategy in place that has direction for everyone.

Training & Development: What learning opportunities are you providing to your employee? Do you have a formal or informal way to help identify employees’ career goals and help them meet those goals within the organization through training and/or on the job experiences? Because of today’s ups and downs, employees are forced to focus on their career loyalty. But, if you help them focus on their career development, they are likely to be more loyal to you.

Communication: Do you know an organization that has ever been told they over communicate? I don’t mean that you send too much email; this just means you aren’t communicating efficiently. Employees need to know what is going on in the organization during the good and bad times. Different employees like to hear messages from different media (i.e. email, memo, face to face). And, oftentimes, employees need to hear it repeatedly to really get the message. What do your employees feel they don’t hear? How do they like to be communicated with? Do you have a communication plan?

Recognition and Reward: Too often, we all get too busy in our workdays to take time and simply say “thank you” to employees even for just doing their job, let alone for going above and beyond. Recognition doesn’t always have to be about a monetary reward. Employees often express that if someone just noticed and showed appreciation, it would mean a lot. Both managers and companies will be more successful AND retain more employees when they take the time to just say “thank you” to the employees. Find out what type of recognition employees seek. Individualize the recognition as much as possible. One person may enjoy a Home Depot gift card and another may like Starbucks. What means the most to the employee?

Flexibility: Survey after survey continues to say that employees want to work for a flexible company. Is your workplace one that realizes the need to have flexible workplace policies? This need started with the Gen Xers but has become contagious. All of the generations have gotten on the bandwagon. If your organization isn’t considering creative ideas for offering any form of flexibility in your workplace, you are likely to start seeing your employees leave for organizations that do offer this – alternative work schedules, telecommuting, PTO, etc.

These are just a few ideas and they may not be right for your organization. Your solutions depend on your employees. But, when you say retention is too expensive, remember to do your math! What is the cost of turnover of one, two, or three key employees? This cost should become your budget for retention. Retention isn’t expensive – turnover is! How many employees can you afford to lose?

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP is a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant and President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or would like to share your comments or retention strategies with Robin, contact her at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

With unemployment rates soaring (7.2% in Ohio as of June per state Department of Job and Family Services), why would an employer feel pressured to worry about workers seeking employment elsewhere? Possibly due to the fact that statistics are saying that we are in a talent war with a shortage of “skilled” workers of somewhere between 7 – 10 million by 2010. It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out the only way these numbers add up is because many organizations are struggling to find individuals with the right skills to fit their needs. But when they do, it will be a talent war!!! Not until an employee has been convinced of how much greener the grass is on the side of another organization, does their current employer begin an impulsive counter offer attack, that may be just a little too late…The counter offer is best described by Edward Koller in “The Counter-offer Crisis”:

“The counter offer pitch is the result of poorly organized management attempting to play catch-up ball in the final innings of a badly played game.”

Unfortunately, many of the counter offers that we’ve seen recently have been made in pure desperation. The employee has actually come to the employer to give notice and said, “Please do NOT make me a counter offer. I’m not interested.” But, a counter offer is still presented in absurd amounts ranging from 10% to over 30% increases in salary. What message is being sent? “You mean a lot to us AND we should have given you this raise a long time ago!” Or, how about the employer that lectured the employee about the non-compete, intellectual property, etc. in one room and in the next the manager made them a counter offer. Hmmm…

Don’t get us wrong, under certain circumstances; a counter offer may be the right solution. However, the way that counter offers have been played out recently, we’d say there are several big problems:

If the employee accepts the counter offer, they have now seen the green pastures on the other side of the fence; so how much longer will they actually stay with their current employer? What are you going to do to ensure they feel valued for the long-haul, in addition to the money that was thrown at them? According to Edward Koller “90 percent of the people in magazine publishing who accept a counter-offer from their employers won’t be with that company one year from that date.”

What if the employee doesn’t accept? Why did the employer wait so long to let the employee know their value to the organization, which resulted in the employee’s decision to go elsewhere?

What happens to the morale of those employees that remain with the organization in either case? If others find out that significant counter offers are presented to those employees attempting to resign, what is being done for those that don’t attempt to leave? Do they have to submit their resignation in order to get a raise? Are they going to get stuck with double work if the counter offer doesn’t entice the employee to stay?

During our last recession, too many employers took the attitude with employees that they were lucky to have a job. In this recession, we are faced with the combination of unemployment as well as a talent shortage. Rather than waiting until your key talent to resigns and then scramble to make a counter offer, it’s time to take a closer look at your staff and determine which individuals possess the skills that would be difficult to replace, followed by proactively developing a plan to retain them.

What should you do?

Identify the individuals to be retained
These individuals may have specific skills that are unique to your business or they may be individuals with a good business sense that can be an overall contributor within any area of your business. Bottom line – these are the people you can’t afford to lose today or tomorrow.

Communicate openly
This doesn’t mean you are giving them an employment contract but let them know that they are seen as a valuable component that you plan to keep around as an integral part of the organization. Continue the open communication as often as feasible so there are never surprises for either of you.

Set Expectations
Although this is common sense, often we don’t do it. Set very clear goals and expectations with your key contributors so they know what you expect of them to help you and the organization succeed. This opens communication and helps them see how their individual contributions are directly impacting the organization. But, make sure they know YOU see it as well with feedback and recognition for it (see # 5).

Pay adjustments
What pay increases would you make if you were going to lose these key contributors tomorrow? Why would you wait until you were going to lose them? Show them how valuable they are to you NOW! You can tie it to the business results or the expectations you set but don’t save it until they are going to leave you.

Recognition and Rewards
Do you have a formal recognition and rewards program? Formally or informally, these key contributors and any other A players should know they are successful even at the expense of losing a B or C player. If the same top players are getting recognized and rewarded it may motivate the others to do better or leave. You don’t want to demotivate your top players by not recognizing them do you?

Will this work every time? No! But, will it help most of the time? Yes… And, it isn’t too late to start!

If you do have an individual come to you to resign, remember, they are your next public relations outreach. How you handle their termination will determine your next hire, next client, and so on. Do you treat them with dignity and respect or as a criminal? Talk to them. Find out why they are leaving and what you can learn from their decision. Find out what transition would work best for you and for them. Do they really need to be escorted to their desk and out of the building in “handcuffs” within 5 minutes of their notice to you? Would you ever want them to work for you again in the future?

The key to successful talent management is to be strategic, creative, flexible, and open minded.

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or would like to share your comments or success stories, you can contact Robin at Robin@strategicHRinc.com. A special thanks goes out to Melissa Weigand!

As human resources professionals we are faced with a variety of employment related decisions on a daily basis. As no shock to each of us, we see biases and prejudices whether hidden or overt that affect these decisions STILL today. The situations I observe are amazing and get responses from others like “Wow – that still happens today?” Yes – it does! You’ve seen it too! Can we afford to have these biases in our workplaces when we are in the midst of a war for talent? We need skills and need to continue to take the steps to minimize the influence of these biases in the workplace.

The biases and prejudices come in all forms:

Race or Minorities

Whether it is a biased position against hiring an African American, Hispanic, or Muslim, I run into issues nearly each week with a hiring manager bluntly saying “We don’t want a minority in this position.”

Age – Old and Young

“I want someone young and spunky for this position. The older candidates won’t have the energy and they will retire before they even get started.” – “He looks too young and our customers won’t have respect and trust for someone that is younger than their socks.”

Gender – Male and Female

“She’s got a family. How could she possibly be committed to our company and juggle the needs of her children?”

Weight – Heavy and Thin

“She’s too heavy, wouldn’t be able to keep up, and would just be teased by everyone. Plus, don’t heavy people have hygiene problems?”

Sexual Orientation

“Our workforce isn’t ready for someone with homosexual preferences.”

Personality

“I need to hire someone that is the opposite personality of me to balance my strengths and weaknesses.”

The list is endless…why do any of these issues make a difference in how someone will perform on the job? They shouldn’t, but for some reason these differences and others are influencing decisions when they should not. For years now, I have run across situations like these nearly every day. I put on my HR consultant hat and begin with the legal ramifications of these statements AND help the individual understand what they are missing out on by not looking at the individual’s skills and capabilities. Sometimes, I succeed but other times the company and society misses out! With the labor skills shortage, the organizations that “get it” are the ones that will succeed AND help society tear down these continued biases.

For some of you, I’m preaching to the choir. You probably have as many if not more stories that you could share. But what about the hidden biases that exist without our knowing of them? We have to battle these too. In a recent article titled Watch Out for the Minefield of Hidden Bias by Pamela Babcock, Ms. Babcock sited an outstanding tool to help identify these hidden biases in ourselves and others. A Harvard University research team created a series of Implicity Association Test (IAT). As a result, they found a number of folks have hidden and unconscious biases that may unintentionally be affecting employment decisions. The highest levels of bias were relative to black, elderly, disabled, and overweight individuals. However, the studies showed if you are aware of your unconscious bias you can control how it influences decisions by ensuring your focus is on job related characteristics.

Here are some simple steps to help you be proactive in your organization in continuing to help us focus on individuals’ abilities, accepting them for who they are, and surviving the skills crisis all at once:

Check out the Implicity Association Test. Try it yourself and encourage others to try it too. You’ll be surprised at the results and how it makes you think.

Learn to accept your biases and find ways to overcome them and focus on attributes of individuals that truly impact the situation – job related skills!

Identify the job related skills needed for a position. Interview, evaluate, and promote based on job related skills. Don’t make decisions for the person based on what you think they may do (i.e. he is 55 – why would he want this job? He’ll just quit and retire in 5 years; she is about to get married – she’ll just end up having kids and quitting her job; he is a minority and others won’t accept him)

Engage a group of individuals in employment decision making to try to overcome biases and prejudices. However, be sure you are not creating “group think” where you are always trying to hire or promote individuals like your group.

Continue to educate others on the value of accepting and embracing the differences we all bring to the table. It is what fosters creativity and makes an organization succeed!

Obviously, prejudices and biases hit a very sore spot for many of us. If someone is accused of being prejudiced they become extremely defensive. That is not the goal of this article. There are many ways you can use this data but at least consider this…We are in a labor shortage. Every individual has unique skills and abilities and we need to find a way to hone in and focus on those skills and abilities in order to navigate through this shortage. If we let overt or even hidden biases stop us from hiring the best candidates for the job, our companies will ultimately be impacted. Additionally, we are throwing ourselves back decades in history by not educating ourselves, managers, employees, and community on accepting everyone for who they are no matter what their differences may be.

Don’t just read this article and blow it off! Do something about it! Check out the IAT today and see for yourself if you have any hidden biases. Look around and see if your organization harbors any overt or hidden biases. What can you do to change them? Make a difference!

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have questions or comments on this article, you can contact Robin at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

Is retention an issue for your company? Recently when I’ve asked this question of folks, their immediate response is a loud “NO” quickly followed by “Employees are lucky to have a job right now. We don’t have to worry about retaining them. They aren’t going anywhere.” In a sarcastic tone, I quickly retort with something like, if you were to lose a good employee right now, what would that turnover cost you? After they try to calculate it and get crazy numbers that are so far off base, I’ll share the simple rule of thumb – 50 – 150% of the employee’s annual salary. Can you afford that expense to hit the bottom-line right now just to lose one employee? If that isn’t enough to make you think about retention right now, let’s talk a little more about the impact of losing even more employees when the economy picks up and the labor market is short skilled workers. Perhaps at that point, you’ll be ready to listen to some inexpensive solutions.

What you do right now for your employees while times are tough will have a direct impact on what they will do when the economy does pick up. In a recent survey released in February 2009 by Salary.com, 65% of employees admitted to passively or actively looking for a new job already. Employers are blind to what is happening and believe that they are in power. In this survey, Salary.com found that 80% of the employers believe their employees would not begin a job search in the next 3 months; at the same time, 60% of the employees said they plan to intensify their job search in the next 3 months. What generally happens in these circumstances is the top employees that you can’t afford to lose can find jobs now and even the good / average performers will find jobs at least when the economy picks up. If this happens, you will be left with those that can’t find employment elsewhere. If they haven’t left yet, you may still have time to show them that you care about them and have a great place to work if you begin investing in retention now.

Just in case that isn’t enough…recruiters are finding out that replacing employees isn’t as easy as you might think it would be when unemployment levels are at 7 – 9%. Companies that are actually recruiting now are reporting receiving as many as 1500 or more resumes in response to an ad on the national job boards. After spending countless hours screening these resumes, we continue to hear the same message “where are all the good candidates?” We have high unemployment but we are still in a labor / skills shortage; plus employers’ expectations are very high given the crunch on keeping expenses down. Filling a position is not an easy task now; nor will it be when the economy picks up. Your best recruitment tool is going to be retention. Spend your money keeping your employees and training them to do the jobs you need them to do. You are likely to spend more money recruiting from the outside and not find the right skills, knowledge, and commitment than what you could spend on retaining and training the employees you already have.

Finally, studies also show that not only is your bottomline impacted by the turnover costs but also a decrease in productivity and customer satisfaction. The more dissatisfied employees become and the less focused they are on doing a good job for you, the less productive they are on the job and more likely they are to impact customer satisfaction. According to Karen Campbell the Vice President of Human Resources and Director of the People Management Resources Division at SMC Business Councils, “Good retention practices go hand-in-hand with customer satisfaction and employee productivity.”

Convinced? I hope so…

So, where do you begin in trying to retain your current workforce? You need to start with your employees. You need to find out what your employees feel are the characteristics of a great company. You can do this through exit interviews (if you are having any turnover) performance reviews, employee opinion surveys, and casual conversations. Think about what you hope to gain by asking them. What are some reasonable questions and steps that you could take to improve the workplace? Don’t ask questions about things you can’t change or you set yourself up for failure. But, also make sure you are asking questions that will give you actionable results. Once you’ve gathered the feedback, determine the actions you can take and create a plan. If you are short staffed, involve your employees in implementing the plan. Most importantly, communicate the plan to employees of what you are going to do based on their feedback as well as what you aren’t going to be able to do now or later and why. As long as you are communicating AND with sincerity, you’ll be surprised at the employees’ responses. Some of the best retention plans simply include asking employees, involving employees, communicating, and taking action.

Don’t try to copy the retention programs that others do. Figure out what will work in your company and that might even start with a culture change. Often the solutions are simple and not too expensive so don’t hold back because you are afraid of what employees may ask for. Some of the response and solutions we’ve seen have included:

Training and encouraging managers to give more regular feedback

A more formal reward and recognition program

A little more fun in the workplace (i.e. boss flipping burgers on a Friday)

Show employees how they fit into the goals of the company

Flexibility in the hours (i.e. set core hours)

Employee development and training

Improve company communications (even when it is bad news)

Alternative benefits (i.e. concierge services, dinners to go)

Competitive compensation (i.e. yes, even during these times of cutback)

Mentoring and coaching solutions

Skill development (i.e. job enrichment)

Respect

Now I ask, is retention an issue for your company? I hope it is a priority!

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or would like to share your comments or retention strategies with Robin, contact her at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

Once upon a time, you would only see older workers managing the younger workers – NOT anymore! And boy is this creating tension in the workplace. Since the publication of our book, Bridging the Generation Gap, Linda and I continue to receive calls from publications and organizations asking “How can we get the younger boss of an older worker relationship to happen in harmony?” As I tell my two children, it takes two to tango and in this case it will take two to make this relationship work.

The very first step towards making the younger boss/older worker relationship work is to accept the situation for what it is and stop kicking and screaming! The younger boss is the boss and wouldn’t be the boss if he or she were not qualified – diapers or no diapers. At the same time, a boss is only as strong as his or her direct reports. The younger boss needs to respect the older worker for the years of experience and expertise that he/she brings to the table, which will help to make the team shine – dentures or no dentures. If both individuals can accept that they each have something unique to bring to the table, then one big hurdle has been overcome.

A second hurdle that must be overcome is overall RESPECT!!! Too often in any situation, the young make the old feel “ooold” and the old make the young feel like a kid out of his sandbox. There is no place for this in the workplace. Younger workers may want a sense of family but they are not looking for parents. In fact, the younger generations call these hovering people “pseudo parents” or “helicopter parents.” Younger workers, including younger bosses, don’t want older workers to take them under their wing and treat them like kids and don’t want jokes or comments that make them feel like the kid still in “diapers.” Likewise, the older workers want to be treated with respect as well. They want respect for their years of experience and want younger workers to know that their brains do still work. Older workers want to share their experiences so you don’t have to recreate the wheel. Skip the comments that make them feel like they are so old they need to be put out to pasture.

Another key issue that must be overcome for the younger boss/older worker relationship to work is communication. Yes, we actually all do speak the same language; it’s just the method, time, and frequency of communication can vary a great deal by generation. Therefore, it is important to clarify the communication styles of the younger boss and older worker up front to ensure both individuals are on the same page. For example, younger generations tend to use instant messaging and email much more often, whereas the older generations typically like face to face or phone conversations. The older generations are more likely to want collaboration on issues, which requires more communication versus the younger generations who take a more hands off independent approach requiring less communication or simple email updates. Finally, both generations need to agree on how to handle communications after hours. You may find a very different opinion between the generations on this issue but knowing the opinions will avoid any conflict.

Finally, as a Gen Xer, I myself have managed older workers and observed my peers do the same. There are some very basic steps you can take that will make you a more successful younger boss and become seen as partner rather than the kid in “diapers.” To begin with, your first impression is absolutely critical. You need to dress the part of a leader – dress to impress but not over impress. This means you should be dressed one step up from everyone else you supervise. Come prepared with a plan but include your team in the plan either by meeting with them as a group or connecting one on one depending on your comfort level or the group dynamics. Next, set very clear expectations with each of your direct reports so you both are on the same page working toward the same goals. This upfront communication also helps avoid conflicts down the road. Finally, don’t make the older generations conform to you; respect them for the way they are. Their generational differences will reveal unique perspectives and ideas that you might not think of.

Having worked often with older workers and through our research for Bridging the Generation Gap, we learned many ideas to help the older worker as well. The first and toughest step will be to let the younger boss manage, even if it is different than the way you’d do it. Second, turn on those listening skills and really listen to what the younger boss has to say. Generally, younger workers are very connected to the mission and vision of the company, which we can all resonate with; you’ll be able to connect too – I promise. Be prepared for a very hands off management style and identify ways that will help you work with this type of style. For example, try to use email a little more. Finally, get to know the younger generation. Linda Gravett actually said that diving into some of the periodicals, websites, and TV shows that the younger generations like has helped her to understand and relate to us better.

Remember, whether you are the younger boss or the older worker, you both are working for the same company with the same vision, mission and goals. You are serving the same customers. You may each go about doing things a little differently but your end results will be the same. The key is by working together you can be more successful whether or not you are from the diaper or denture generation.

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, SCP a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or comments about this article, you may contact Robin at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

As a co-author of Bridging the Generation Gap, I’ve seen a huge difference in the definition of “work ethic” across our workforces. Even researching online, you’re likely to get a variety of definitions. The best definition that I have found was provided by Wikipedia:

Work Ethic is a set of values based on hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. A work ethic may include being reliable, having initiative, or pursuing new skills. (Source: Wikipedia)

So, what does “work ethic” mean to you?

During the research for our book, Bridging the Generation Gap, Linda Gravett, PhD, SPHR, COQC and I found each generation had a different definition of work ethic which directly impacted how they worked and viewed others work ethic.

Radio Babies (1930 – 1945) view work ethic as starting early and staying late; you work as many hours as possible because of your loyalty to the company. For that reason, they also believe if you get a job, you keep a job.

Baby Boomers (1946 – 1964) feel “face time” is very important. The company’s management and your manager need to SEE you working; otherwise, you aren’t working. They also believe in being flexible when the company needs them to be flexible.

Gen Xers (1965 – 1976) feel that a typical work day should allow for balance between work and family. This may mean working some at the office and some in the evening remotely. Gen Xers are very loyal to their ideas and seek support for being independent.

Gen Ys (1977 – 1990) strongly believe that work doesn’t define them. Their typical (ideal) day would also allow for a balance between work and personal life. Personal life may not just be “family,” but it could be involve accommodating for their individual preferences such as, “I am not a morning person” or “I need to grocery shop at 4:00 pm.”

Millennials(1991 – present) are still defining their work ethic. They are being influenced a great deal by their parents and friends.

If you look closely at how each generation described work ethic, they are describing the way work is getting done. Isn’t the real goal of an organization the output they get from an individual, not the process used? One of the best lessons we can learn in regards to work ethic is to evaluate an individual based on their results, not how they got the results.

As an example, it can be very frustrating for a Baby Boomer to watch a Gen Y show up a few hours later or leave early. If the work isn’t getting done, that is one thing. However, if the job is done, it is important for the Baby Boomer to focus on the results, not the “face time” that the Gen Y gave.

In reality, one generation doesn’t necessarily have THE best or only work ethic solution over another. Each one has simply defined work ethic differently, perhaps as a result of what has taken place as they have grown up and moved into the workplace. The key is respecting each other for having a different approach to their work. Perhaps learning a little from each generation and creating a new future “work ethic” based on the changes in the workplace and technology will enable us to bridge the generation gap and allow us all to co-exist in the workforce.

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of strategic HR inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or wish to share your comments, please feel free to contact Robin at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

I’m one that tends to think that the glass is “half full”. As such, I am much happier terming our current economic condition as a time of “uncertainty”; it sounds better than “troubled” or “down”. After all, uncertain is truly what this situation is. One day the stock market is up, the next day it is down; unemployment is up, but other key indices are down. I think it’s anyone’s guess as to when or how a turnaround is going to happen. So I stay positive and continue to hope for the best in this time of “uncertainty”.

While we are all very aware of the economic climate, being reminded almost daily, life must go on and for businesses and their owners, the business must go on. What does that mean? How can we continue to do business when there is so much uncertainty? As HR professionals what can we do to ensure that business “goes on” as needed, despite the uncertainty? I say take your cue from other departments – what are their best practices in an economic slowdown? Here are some observations that I’ve made over the past few months that come from different departments and varying industries:

Do more with less. Everyone I talk with says that now is the time to do more with less. Wasn’t that what we were already doing? That seems to have been the mantra for most of my existence in the business world. But today it takes on a whole new meaning. I have heard of companies consolidating offices/cubicles and sharing space with a staggered staff (in this instance essentially turning off the lights and electricity-hogging computers for half its employees in a call-center). One particular company has even shut down multiple refrigerators in a break-room that are for employee use – all in an attempt to cut back on overhead costs. Big bottom-line impact? Maybe not, but often times finding lots of little savings can add up to big savings in the long run; and are often overlooked when money isn’t so tight. Think of some small ways you can save money that might make an impact over time. A lot of the “green” initiatives that are taking hold are great opportunities to save money, but in some cases they might cost more upfront, so be sure to do a ROI to make sure you are getting the cost savings that are immediately needed.

Employees are valuable assets. Labor is expensive, but it’s also very essential to many businesses. Some companies tend to view their employees as disposable commodities and labor costs are the first thing to be cut when the belt has to tighten. While in some instances cutting labor is the only way to make ends meet, in other cases it’s possible to be creative with your labor budget and try other options rather than eliminating employees, and adding to unemployment. One company I know of is asking employees to take a day off (no pay) to allow others to work. While not everyone has the luxury of going a day without pay, if given the choice of job cuts for all or occasional unpaid time off, many would choose the latter. Likewise, some companies are freezing salaries to keep everyone employed and avoid layoffs while still meeting the payroll. This may not be a good long-term solution, but it just might get some companies through until things start to improve in the economy. Before eliminating employees, be sure to analyze if that’s the best, first move.

Business as usual. While you don’t want to appear insensitive to the times, it is important to take on a “business as usual” demeanor when it comes to getting things done. When you talk with marketers, they know that now is not the time to stop marketing. In fact, marketers say that now is precisely the time to market more. Market-share is up-for-grabs as companies are forced to leave the market or are erroneously concentrating on the wrong focus and let market-share slip to competitors (like yourself). Now is the time to strike and capture some of that market. Sales and marketing professionals are taking this opportunity to enhance relationships with their existing clients as well as attract new customers. Similarly, HR should also use this time to enhance relationships with their clients – which include employees. As the budget permits, try to maintain (or even improve) the status quo.

Remember the “survivors”. As HR professionals you are well aware of “survivor guilt” – the feelings of despair employees feel when others fall victim to a layoff and they “survive”. However, you don’t have to have an actual layoff in your organization to have employees that feel this guilt. The sheer volume of today’s layoffs seems to impact just about everyone. Your employees may have close friends or family members who have lost jobs and are dealing with unemployment. In addition, today’s layoffs are different than in the past. Previous layoffs usually resulted in laid-off people getting similar jobs to the ones they had lost. Today, however, it is more likely that whole job types will be eliminated and folks will be forced to find work in a completely different arena than they are used to working. Should you have a layoff situation within your organization, your “survivors” will certainly have a lot on their minds. Be keenly aware of the environment, both within your organization and the outside community. Keep your employees “in the know” as much as possible. Constant communication, and validation of what’s going on elsewhere, is the key to calming fears among your employees. Offer your employees coping strategies or provide forums where they can talk about such issues. If they feel better about such situations and can work through the issues, their performance and the overall environment of the organization will likely improve.

Don’t forget to reward employees for a job well done. You may not be able to financially reward them, but you can recognize their performance in a variety of positive and meaningful ways.

Keep soliciting new ideas from employees. It’s easy to instinctively resist change and avoid trying something new for fear of financial implications, but innovation is often key to helping organizations survive during tough times (think of the cost saving ideas your employees could generate).

Don’t eliminate training. You might have to scale back the training you typically provide, but try to keep the opportunity to learn and improve skills available if at all possible. If employees have the opportunity to train outside your organization, remember they may be able to bring back other best practices they learn from others while in training.

As you move through this time of uncertainty, keep in mind these practices and be on the lookout for other creative ways to do more with less, manage your assets, maintain a productive environment and keep moving forward “business a usual” as much as possible.

Debbie Hatke, MA, SPHR is a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant and Talent Strategy Manager with Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have questions or comments about this article, you can contact Debbie at Debbie@strategicHRinc.com.

Social Media can be a double edge sword for a company. According to a survey conducted in 2009 by Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law, 81% of the respondents view social media as a corporate security risk. However, if a company chooses not to participate in social media, they run the risk of being perceived as being behind the curve. In order to prevent the security risk and the perceptions, it is up to HR to take the lead and determine how to effectively manage social media in the company.

Companies have many issues to be concerned about with social media participation, which often leads to cutting off access to social media. Robert Half Technology conducted a study that found 54% of U.S. companies prohibit use of social media on company time for many or all employees. While employees may not understand what the risks are, there are many, including the disclosure of confidential information such as:

Finances

Strategies and goals

Brand and trade secrets

Proprietary research

Unreleased advertising

Personal information (i.e. employees or clients)

Internal processes

Employees may not even realize the information they are sharing is confidential or that they are releasing it to the public when they post it. Plus, even if you delete the information, once something is posted, it cannot be removed from the Internet. Employees also can (even accidentally) cause legal implications through copyright infringements / plagiarism and defamation statements. Whether it is on company time or personal time, if the employee is viewed as representing the company, the company can be liable.

For all these reasons, it is important for a company to develop a social media policy. But what should you address in your policy? The list can get pretty long, which means so can your policy. Some issues you may want to cover include:

Which sites or tools can or cannot be used at work

Who can use them

What purposes can they be used for

When they can be used (i.e. are there any restrictions such as during lunch or breaks)

The type of information that is acceptable or unacceptable to be discussed

A statement prohibiting the use of social media for harassment or discrimination

It will be important to update your policy at a minimum annually; however, with technology rapidly changing, you may want to revisit your policy more frequently. In addition, you may want to consider having employees re-acknowledge their understanding of the policy every 60 – 90 days.

We’ve also found that many employees may acknowledge and agree that they understand the policy, but they actually may not truly understand what they can and cannot do and the ramifications their activity can have on the company, even during non-business hours. To address some of these misunderstandings, it will be important for your management of social medial to include training. The training should cover:

An overview of company policy on usage

Why the policy is needed

An overview of all the social media sites

The impact of “personal usage” and what that entails

Emphasize what is allowed

Define who is authorized to speak on the company’s behalf

Encourage common sense

Explain how the company will monitor employee usage

Explain consequences for violations

Urge use of disclaimers when posting on social media

Depending on your workplace, you may even find you need to vary your training by user. Do you have a large group of Millennials and Gen Ys that are regular users of social media? Their training and examples may be very different than let’s say those of the Baby Boomer and Radio Baby Generation. Or perhaps you have a Manufacturing environment – office workers may need one type of training because they are on the computer daily versus those that work on the shop floor. Or, how about individuals that need to use social media as a daily part of their job versus those that don’t – for example marketing or HR staff. All of these issues need to be taken into consideration when developing a training and communications program.

Your organization needs to realize the impact that social media can have. While there may be security and legal risks, there are some definite positives to using and allowing social media in the workplace. A study by the University of Melbourne found that productivity increased by 9% among people who used the Internet for personal purposes at work. What company would turn down an increase in productivity? The key is managing social media to fit your culture rather than letting it manage you!

Have you been encountering a lot of ambiguity in your email lately? Could it be that we were thrown into using email sink or swim, and Email Writing 101 was never a course we took in school or was available to us at work? Are we all so pressed for time that we don’t take the time to adequately express what we need, how we feel or what we mean? Or is it that texting has indeed taken over and our instinct to use our vast vocabulary is stifled by the need to be succinct and quick in our email communications? Although there is an undercurrent of thought that says texting will replace email as the main form of business communication (as it is thought to currently be the most popular form of communication among teenagers), for the time being, email is still predominantly the main way we communicate at work.

Email can be tricky — it often doesn’t convey the emotion behind the message, which can lead to misunderstanding and miscommunication. However, despite the occasional ambiguity, an Office Team survey reported that over 65% of business executives prefer to use e-mail for office communications (up from 34% the last decade). So what are some steps you can take to try to make your email communications solid?

Use the Subject line to clearly convey the intent of the email — include a date if the communication is time sensitive or requires follow up.

For example:
Subject: Monthly Sales Meeting Agenda — REPLY by 10-1-10

Keep your email targeted toward a single subject — don’t send an email out about the monthly meeting, the report that was due yesterday and the employee picnic.

Separate emails will keep topics orderly and easier to find. It might seem like a lot of work to write three emails instead of one, but not only does it keep topics segmented for the reader, it allows for easy recall and search-ability should you need to refer back to the email or track the respondents. Also try to keep your message short — if you need to discuss a more complex issue, doing so in-person or via a phone call is best.

Be specific about what you want the reader to do — reply, take an action, forward, DON’T forward (confidential), etc.

In your email provide the information needed for the reader to take action or respond – such as your preferred email address or phone number. Having this information in your signature line ensures the respondent can always reach you if their contact list isn’t handy.

Don’t “Reply All” just because you can — as with most communication, take some time to craft and think through your message or your response AND who needs to receive the communication.

Firing off your first response to an email is not the best strategy; nor is copying it to everyone in the office. Take some time to interpret (and reinterpret) the meaning and intent of the email (and, yes, pick up the phone if needed). Consider who needs to be in-the-loop on the communication for practical purposes versus copying everyone to cover your assets. Thoughtlessly copying all the recipients of an email when your response was hastily or thoughtlessly crafted, could prove damaging and is annoying.

Use spell check (always) and good grammar — most all software programs provide a spell check and grammar check feature use it or proof it the good old way.

These are business communications; treat your email like a memo that will be part of the company record forever. As such, don’t include anything that shouldn’t be part of the company record — forever. Use complete sentences and show thought in your writing (see above).

Keep the appearance simple — fancy or colored backgrounds make email hard to read and worse, hard to reply to.

Fancy fonts may look more interesting or personalized to you, but can be hard to read for others and might appear less polished. Remember that some people only receive text email and won’t fully appreciate the HTML formatted email you worked so hard to create. And only include images if they are pertinent to the conversation — this goes for attachments as well. Many people won’t open attachments due to the threat of viruses.

THIS IS CONSIDERED “YELLING” — really, it is!

Don’t type in all caps and use caps ONLY to emphasize certain words. And if you do feel like yelling, don’t send an email. Take an hour or two to cool off and compose yourself before you fire off an email that you might regret later.

Some other rules of thumb —

Don’t send an email (or voice mail for that matter) that says “call me”. The great thing about email (and voice mail) is that you can provide some detail. This allows the recipient to prepare for your conversation and be ready with the information you need. Email and voice mail should SAVE time, not waste it.

On the flip side, don’t send a volume of information in an email. Some things are just better explained over the phone; and, if you think about it, would take less time to convey in an in-person conversation than the time it would take for you to type it. Email is meant for quick communication.

Don’t spam. Nothing is less endearing than to send junk mail. You won’t make a million dollars from Bill Gates if you pass along his email to your colleagues and you won’t have a week of bad luck if you don’t share a sonnet with your 10 best friends. IT WON’T HAPPEN (yes, I’m yelling). If you are compelled to pass along some “useful” words of wisdom to a friend, check it out before sending. Online sites such as Snopes.com or Hoax-Slayer.com will help you determine if that compelling email is an urban legend or a legitimate concern.

While email is admittedly emotionless, using emoticons J or : ) to help add emotion to your message isn’t generally appropriate for business communications :-o. If your office demeanor allows, you might be okay using these symbols in peer to peer communications, but don’t send emails with smiley faces to clients or use in external communications. L

Email is not entirely private. It can be read by others if they desire to do so and they only need the skill or resources to access your email (where there is a will, there is a way). Before sending an email always be aware that what you publish electronically could fall into the wrong hands.

Always keep your audience in mind – the different generations have diverse feelings about communication styles. Generally speaking, Baby Boomers are more likely to pick up the phone or talk in person rather than send an email. Generation X lives and breathes through email, while Generation Y finds email “old-fashioned” and prefers Text, FaceBook or Twitter for quick communications.

I LOVE email. It allows me to send a long and detailed or a short and to-the-point message instantly, cheaply and to as wide or small an audience as I desire, any time day or night. And while texting/Tweeting might be the most popular form of communication among teens, I believe email still has a few years left in the business world. So make the most of that time and use email to say what you mean.

Debbie Hatke, MA, SPHR is a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant and Talent Strategy Manager with Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have questions or comments about this article, you can contact Debbie at Debbie@strategicHRinc.com.

With statistics, such as Salary.com‘s February 2009 survey reporting that 68% of employees are actively looking for new jobs NOW, HR needs to find a way to retain workers before the economy regains strength and they jump ship. A report by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) identified employee recognition as a key factor in retaining top performing workers. Employee recognition seems simple enough…knowing this, what’s holding us back from firing this magic bullet? Is it time? Is it money?

When it comes to the time constraints of a reward and recognition program, you need to put the time in on the front end of planning and developing the program; making sure you have all the details necessary for the whole program so it nearly runs itself once it is put into place. We recently developed a program for a client because the client didn’t have the “time.” We determined levels from non-monetary to low cost to significant reward. We developed a brand for the program and all supporting communications including quarterly advertisements for the next two years. Finally and most importantly, we developed a manager’s tool kit and trained the managers on the program and recognition and reward in general. Yes, it was a lot of work (aka “time”) up front, but then the program was ready to roll-out and run with little time and effort. It’s in place now and is doing just that – running like a well oiled machine with little effort needed from Human Resources.

Your next obstacle to overcome is money but employees are actually making this one easier than we may think. Monetary rewards are no longer as important to employees as just simply being recognized. Research by BCP Handbook found that the correlation between the length of time people intended to stay with their current employer and recognition received for work well done was more significant than longevity and monetary rewards. In addition, Sherry Ryan a Training Specialist with Weyerhaeuser Company reported in her article on “Rewards and Recognition” that people are motivated to perform at a higher level by positive recognition from their managers and peers. She went on to say “These types of recognition can be inexpensive to give, but priceless to receive.” Finally, in a Strategic Rewards Survey by Watson Wyatt, they also found that financial rewards are not the number one motivator for employees. Employees are more motivated by opportunities to show what they can do and be perceived as successful by their peers. Bottom-line it looks like we may be able to motivate our employees with some non-monetary rewards if we can find the time to offer a successful recognition program.

Some simple non-monetary rewards include:

Verbal praise

Written note

Parking spot

Letter to the family

Volunteering to help an employee for an hour or day

Wash the employee’s car in the parking lot during lunch

Let the employee leave early or come in late

Some low-cost ideas include:

Personalized gift certificates (find out what the employee really would use)

Candy bar (Kudos, Hershey Bar – wrapped in a thank you)

Lunch with Manager or President (maybe even choice of other co-workers)

Tickets to an event (sports, theatre, concert)

Lottery ticket

Concierge Service (car wash, oil change, take-out dinner)

Massage

Movie Tickets

Time off

Lawn care

House cleaning

Remember, HR can only be a conduit for the Recognition and Rewards program. For a recognition and rewards program to succeed, the managers must implement the recognition and need to realize their role in the success of recognition. A great book recently written for managers on this topic is Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works by Berrett and Koehler (May 2009). Sometimes if managers realize the benefit to the organization, they will also be more apt to follow through with the recognition. For example, a recent Gallup Poll reported organizations with employees that are happy with their work-life will realize 22% higher productivity and 27% higher profits, while disengaged workers cost employers $292 billion to $355 billion a year in lower productivity. No need to fret though, in a survey by the National Association of Employee Recognition and World at Work, 96% of US companies believe employee recognition helps improve employee morale and reduce turnover.

Just make sure you are one of those companies that realize employee recognition improves morale and take the time up front to develop the program so you, your employees, and your company can reap the benefits.

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or would like to share your comments or retention strategies with Robin, you can contact her at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

According to a survey conducted by World at Work and the National Association of Employee Recognition (NAER), 87% of employers have some type of recognition program for employees, up from 64% in 2002. From those figures, it appears that we do not have a problem recognizing employees. However, we continue to hear from our exiting employees that they are not being recognized. According to the Saratoga Institute, 60% of exiting employees indicate one of the reasons for leaving an organization is that they are not recognized and are taken for granted. So, where is the disconnect?

The desire to be recognized and praised is one of our deepest cravings. Employee’s expectations on the job have increased. One of those expectations includes recognition and it appears that our programs have not kept up with the increasing level of importance employees place of this need. Evaluating the programs we have in place is just the first step in successfully implementing programs that will result in a positive investment…retaining our quality employees. Keep the following things in mind when reviewing your current program or when establishing a new recognition program.

The Recognition “Do’s”

Determine what it is you are trying to accomplish with the recognition. Make sure you create programs that support the organization’s goals, missions, and/or values and tie the programs together. You may wish to combine programs that recognize organization and/or departmental objectives by adding a departmental component to the program if necessary.

Ask your employees what type of programs they would like to see. In a recent survey by the NAER, 78% of employees surveyed indicated that it was “very important” or “extremely important” to be recognized so let them tell you how. Use surveys or focus groups to determine what type of programs would be meaningful to them and what type of rewards they would like to see.

In analyzing the data received from employees, remember, one size does not fit all. As we are all aware after returning some of those holiday gifts we received this past month, truly one size does not fit all. That holds true for recognition programs. The recent shift in recognition programs has become one that is much more informal. Allowing more flexibility in the programs allow supervisors to be more sincere and create more personal rewards that fit the employee.

Gratitude is the biggest and most important part of recognition. According to the National Association for Employee Recognition the recognition industry is a $27 billion incentive industry. With all those dollars at stake, we sometimes lose sight of the reason for the program. A sincere thank you in written or verbal form shows employees that what they do does matter and is appreciated. Take time to express gratitude when you recognize, don’t rush through it to get it off your ‘to do’ list.

Timing is critical. Recognition should occur immediately or soon after a noteworthy event or action. Imagine giving everyone you know a birthday card a month after their birthday. The feeling of ‘better late than never’ is not effective.

Communication is essential. Kick off your recognition program with a BANG and provide constant reminders about the program. Create a catchy theme and tie that into your communications. Remember, the rule of thumb is that a message must be delivered nine times before it is completely absorbed so keep your message out there and fresh.

Make it fun! Spontaneity allows us to get out of the expectation mode. Traditional awards such as birthday, service, or employee of the month/quarter awards can promote a feeling of entitlement which may not necessarily impact the organization’s bottom line. Allow spot awards or occasional performance incentive awards that can be given at a supervisor’s discretion. Programs such as this can be directly tied to activities that promote the organization’s mission and vision and can be given quickly after a recognizable event.

Encourage peer recognition. One of the fastest growing trends is peer recognition. Programs such as these help to promote teamwork and cooperation. Programs in which all levels of employees are able to recognize achievements and accomplishments keep them exciting and in the forefront. As we are all aware, supervisors don’t see everything that happens in the workplace. Peer recognition is a way to allow others to thank coworkers for something they have done that has made a difference.

Recognition is everyone’s job! As HR professionals, we are challenged with creating a culture that promotes recognition and supports the organizational goals while positively (or at least not negatively) impacting the bottom line. HR cannot do it alone. Effective recognition programs must be embraced by all levels of the organization and must be conducted at all levels.

Evaluate programs and measure their success. As with any program that is implemented, it is important to measure it’s return on investment. Nothing talks better than money and it will be important for the continuation (or implementation) of your recognition program to show the positive impact on the bottom line. Recognition is not easy to measure because it deals with feelings, but it is possible. One way to measure ROI is to measure turnover resulting from lack of recognition. How many exiting staff cite “lack of recognition” as their reason for leaving? How many indicate the same reason after program implementation? Has it improved? Another measure could be to use recognition as a part of your employee survey and measure the change in employee satisfaction levels with the programs from year to year. Finally, use the goal you are trying to accomplish with the program. Was the program implemented to enhance customer satisfaction? Use surveys to determine customer satisfaction scores prior to and after program implementation.

It is no secret that today we are struggling to attract and retain quality employees. Also, those employees that are in place are less secure and less trusting that ever before as a result of a decade of downsizing and restructuring, limited pay increases, and increasing health care costs. Creating effective recognition strategies that have a positive return on investment can assist us in improving the morale and distrust of our employees and enhancing organizational commitment. Use some of these tips to refresh your current program or to implement a program in your organization.

Finally, I challenge you to make an investment in your staff today. Put down this article and thank someone today for something they have done. Did they go ‘above and beyond’? Did they remember someone’s anniversary with the organization? Did they suggest an idea to improve a process? Did they make it in on a day when the weather was not cooperating? Remember, formal recognition programs are great, but frequent expressions of gratitude are just as well received. I promise it will be well worth the investment.

Throughout time, epidemic illnesses have claimed millions of lives. Pandemic influenza events include the 1918 flu which claimed 50 to 100 million lives worldwide, the 1957 flu which claimed 70,000 lives, and the 1968 flu which killed over 34,000. With this in mind, and the emergence of the latest strain of influenza known as ‘Bird Flu’, businesses and individuals need to take a hard look at what the world will be like during the next pandemic influenza event and prepare for such an event. Whether we are ready to believe it or not, World Health leaders acknowledge that the question of a pandemic flu event is not if, but when it will occur. Ed Marcuse, co-author of the Department of Health and Human Services Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Advisory Plan put it this way “…the clock is ticking. We just don’t know what time it is”. Are you and your organization ready for that time to come?

Imagine the following scenario. Once established, the influenza will rapidly move across the globe affecting regions and metropolitan areas in multiple waves, each lasting several weeks. Studies from the 1918 pandemic have taught modern public health leaders valuable lessons in how to plan for the next pandemic; most importantly, managing the disease through what is referred to as “social distancing”. This will become common place during the pandemic. Elimination of contact with those infected is the best method to prevent illness other than vaccine which will not be ready for months after the onset of such an illness. As such, organizations must prepare for this and work with public health officials to help eliminate the spread of such disease and to protect ourselves and employees through social distancing. For many, our business continuity or emergency preparedness plans have addressed this threat and help us to manage the Department of Health and Human Services estimated 40% rate of absenteeism that will result from such a pandemic. Absenteeism which will result from employees falling ill, leaving to care of other family members, dealing with grief from someone around them who died, taking care of children due to school closures, transportation closures, quarantines, or just plain fear. So what else do we need to do?

The most important first step is awareness – awareness for organizations and employees. In Mercer’s 2006 Avian Flu Pandemic Awareness Study, it is evident that employers understand the potential for such an event, but have not yet prepared for it. In the study, 95% of respondents were aware of the potential for a pandemic flu outbreak. 90% of respondents also indicated that the absenteeism associated with such an event would result in moderate to high impact on their business. Yes, from this study and others it appears that we are aware but awareness does not equal preparedness.

The next step is business preparedness. Even with 95% armed with awareness of a potential event, only 45% of the respondents indicated they have established any type of business continuity plan. For those of you who have a plan, it is time to take out the plan and dust it off – making sure that you have addressed the potential for a pandemic emergency. For those of you who do not have a business continuity plan–now is the time. There will be no time to create one once the crisis begins, an influenza outbreak could spread worldwide in as little as 20 to 30 days. Remember to keep certain things in mind regarding potential significant absences – How many people do you need to keep your organization running? Is it possible to allow employees to work from home during such an event? If so, can your servers handle such an influx and are they secure? Is it possible (and safer) to close and if so how will you handle such issues as compensation and benefits during that time?

The final step is what we believe to be the missing link for many employers – assisting our employees with their own home preparedness. In a review of most business continuity plans, it appears that we are not truly arming our employees with the information to survive such a catastrophic event in their homes. This is a missing link that employers can easily embrace which could potentially make the difference on whether or not the organization survives such an epidemic.

We have learned from our wellness initiatives that employers play a huge part in the health and well-being of their employees. This also lies true in preparedness. Successful preparedness plans will include awareness and preparedness for employees at home so they are able to survive such an event. Your organization will have a difficult time surviving a pandemic flu event if your employees do not survive. Preparing them at home for the event is the missing link that must be addressed. Some employers have figured this out. The American Legacy Foundation understands the importance of this part of preparedness and has not only educated its employees but has also provided home provisions to last six to eight weeks in the event of a ‘shelter in place’ initiative. Provisions are specifically tailored for each employee and were created according to the CDC guidelines including such things as non-perishable food, vitamin C tablets, water, first aid kits, masks, bleach, flashlights, tools, and can openers for employees use in the case of such an emergency.

Aside from providing supplies, educating employees to assist in their own personal preparedness is essential. Employees must be aware of the importance of maintaining a supply of blankets, medicines, and funds (yes…cash money) in the event of an emergency. Employers can help employees by providing information on the various resources available. Many useful websites have been established that provide useful preparedness information including: Reallyready.org and Ready.gov, just to name a few.

By helping to prepare your company, your employees, and your employee’s families not only are you helping make sure that your organization can continue with minimal disruptions, but you are also helping to boost the morale of your employees. By showing them that you care about them and their well-being you are helping them have one less thing to worry about, allowing them to better serve your company.

Lisa Koonin, MPH, MN, director of business partnerships at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Marketing, says, “Businesses have a very important role in preparedness in terms of protecting the health of employees and communities.” Social distancing – keeping the sick people and well people apart will be the single most important factor to help reduce the spread of the illness. As a result, the impact on business could be substantial but effective preparedness – planning that arms our employees with the ability to help themselves will make the difference in a successful plan and one that is not effective.

Patti Dunham is a Sr. Human Resources Consultant with Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or would like to share your comments or success stories, contact Patti at Patti@strategicHRinc.com. A special thanks goes out to Kristin Kaminski for her work on this article!

Times are tough for some folks…but with the New Year comes new hope. I’ve talked with a variety of employers, both large and small, public and private, product-based and service oriented, and the consensus is – there is NO consensus. Everyone is being affected by the now historic economic upheaval in a different way. While some acknowledge a definite impact on their business operations, others don’t seem to be impacted that much at all. It’s this diverse reaction to the downturn which will probably be good for all of us in the long run. Unfortunately, the messages of hope are not as interesting to report about in the news and everywhere we turn we hear negative reports about the economy, unemployment, foreclosures, and the list goes on. Regardless of our own personal situations, this negative news can settle in our psyche and play havoc with our emotions. Employers have reported seeing more individuals filing lawsuits as well as increases in personal health issues. It’s important for our survival not to let the current economic conditions continue to create pessimism and problems both at work and at home – even if they are only perceived and not actually being felt personally.

Fortunately there is a way to combat these negative feelings and work through stressful times. But how do you know if you, your family or your employees are suffering from stress? Take a look at some of these physical and mental symptoms that indicate someone is experiencing undue stress.

Physical Symptoms

Headaches

Sweaty palms

Sleep problems

Fatigue

Back pain

Stomach problems

Rashes

Muscle tension

Poor eating habits

Emotional Symptoms

Edgy

Depressed

Crying

Anger

Dissatisfaction

Tension

Fear

Temper

Withdrawn

Does this sound like you these days? Anyone else you know? Are your employees showing any signs of stress? If so, take action now – make it your New Year’s Resolution to de-stress yourself or someone you care about. Stress is obviously harmful to your health and can lead to serious health problems such as high blood pressure, ulcers, asthma, heart attack and stroke, to name a few. Stress also can negatively affect relationships and definitely affects productivity on the job.

There are lots of great resources online to help with stress. Everything from physical exercise to mental exercise – and in some cases a change in diet can help too (especially after all the eating that goes on during the holidays). Don’t forget, we’re also entering the gloomy days of winter, which can make anyone unhappy if the cold, gray days last long enough. To improve the mood at the office, you could do something simple like invest in new lighting (full spectrum happy lights), or other ergonomic improvements such as new chairs or keyboards (feeling physically good impacts our mental well-being). On a personal level, you can combat stress by taking “control” and creating a strategic plan for yourself. Determine what’s going well in your life and identify areas that you’d like to improve. If you need help identifying your individual priorities and what you need to be focusing on, try taking the Wheel of Life Assessment:

Use the results to determine what you value the most and whether or not it is in balance in your life. If things are not in balance, create a plan to get it in balance. Having a plan in writing will help ensure that you will follow the steps you need to take and make it more manageable.

If business is booming for your company, that’s great news – and should be celebrated by your organization and your employees. Don’t forget that good news is a mood booster, and if things aren’t going well personally for some of your employees, good news at work can help lift their spirits. Likewise, if things are going well, perhaps there is something you can do as an organization for those employees who may be struggling. If business is slow for you now, you might have your hands full managing the business, but don’t forget about the needs of your employees who may be suffering alongside you.

Should you “run out of things to do” or don’t have much stress in your organization that needs addressing, good for you! Use this time to assess your company and be prepared for the future.

Assess your company’s resources and determine how you can diversify to capitalize on a down market.

Don’t stop marketing! Be sure your target customers know who you are and what you do so when the market does improve they will immediately think of you.

Communicate to your employees! Many companies stop communicating when times are bad. This is an important time to communicate! Employees want to hear the good AND the bad. If not, they will assume the worse and fill in the gaps for what they don’t hear. Most likely, the result will be a loss in productivity, morale and good employees.

Train employees! While it is slower than normal, take advantage and provide that needed training that you never have time to do.

As an individual, you control your destiny but life might be throwing a few curve balls at you right now, so take this time to…

Recognize when you need help! If your symptoms of stress are beyond your control, don’t hesitate to seek help for the sake of yourself and your family and friends. There is nothing wrong with asking for help.

If you are unemployed, it is tough out there and you are not alone! Don’t give up! If you financially need to work, you may have to take a job that isn’t perfect until the market improves. But, don’t feel it is giving up! It could just be your foot in the door. Keep your resume ready and network contacts fresh. Continue to find resources to help you stay connected – recruiters, network groups. Develop a short and long-term plan (in writing) so you can have clear direction.

If your finances are tight, you may have to be creative and to find way to get through this financially- but, you can do it! Develop a budget and determine what can you give up and, where can you get help? I’m not a financial planner or banker and every situation is different, but don’t let financial need shut you down and beat you; – find a way to overcome them. I’ve seen too many (good) relationships fall apart over money. Use those strong relationships to find a way to get through together.

Remember, it’s a new year and a great time to make change! Let’s all start the new year out fresh with an optimistic attitude and set any fear and worry that you may have aside! Take care of your situation as needed, always keeping an eye out for someone else that may also be in need. By helping others through tough times you will be “paying it forward” and the good deed is likely to be returned sometime in the future.

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). Debbie Hatke, MA, CIR, SPHR is a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant with Strategic Human Resources, Inc. If you have any questions or would like to share your comments or success stories with either of these consultants, you can contact Robin at Robin@strategicHRinc.com or Debbie at Debbie@strategicHRInc.com.

This is a true scenario that happened recently in an organization in the U.S.:

Susan, a 35-year-old VP, stormed into the HR Director’s office after a difficult meeting with an older direct report. Susan has been in her executive position for just six months and she has virtually no problems providing – and receiving – feedback from direct reports her own age. There’s one person, though – William – who is unsalvageable and should be fired. William, a 58-year-old Sales Director appears to Susan to be extremely needy. He wants a weekly update meeting with her. She doesn’t have time. He doesn’t want to try new approaches to his tried and true sales model, nor does he accept any offers to join him in sales calls to try out a different routine. When Susan offers what she views as straightforward, constructive criticism, William sulks for days. She doesn’t have time to coddle him, so she’s going to tell the HR Director that he must go; and the sooner the better.<
Depending on which side of the fence you're on in your own organization in terms of age and position, you're probably siding with one person or the other in this scenario. This is typical of the conflicts that we found when interviewing people of all ages for our book, Bridging the Generation Gap. Each generation has different approaches for handling conflict, and without knowing the differences leaders can do a great deal of damage to the morale of the organization.
Conflict around work ethic and work methods are the primary sources of conflict in today's workplace, from small non profits to Fortune 500 corporations. Plus, there are many other sources of conflict ranging from work-life balance issues, loyalty, respect, career choices, technology capabilities or availability, dress code for example. The conflicts themselves are the feeder but the impacts they can have on the workplace are more crucial - miscommunication, decrease in morale, increase in absenteeism, increase in turnover, loss of productivity, or loss of customers. We don't, however, have to accept conflict in the workplace and these potentially detrimental impacts as the norm.
We would like to share six steps to ensure you can provide constructive, effective feedback that will maximize productivity and minimize conflict, regardless of the age of the person for whom you're providing the feedback. We've named our approach the FUSION Model:

Focus on the issue at hand and key points related to that issue.

Understand the other’s perspective and point of view.

Be specific about what you think or want.

Be intentional about your expectations and how they support the organization.

Be open to options for handling disagreement.

No “hot button” language such as “you always do this”. Try to avoid using the “you” word and use more “I” if possible.

We use this approach to heighten understanding and minimize the negative effects of peoples’ response to potential conflict or what they view as unwarranted criticism.

Each generation responds to conflict in a different way. In our research, we discovered in our research that Radio Babies (born between 1930 – 1945), often avoid confronting their supervisors or those they perceive to be “in authority.” Even though they may strongly disagree with their supervisor’s approach towards the work, they aren’t as likely as members of other generations to speak out about their concerns. They simmer and seethe instead and may consciously or unconsciously sabotage projects as a way of “getting even”.

We found Baby Boomers (born between 1946 – 1964) to be very concerned with resolving conflict through consensus building. Rather than directly tackle issues individually, often the Boomers we interviewed expressed a desire to work through misunderstandings and disagreements in a team setting and move towards the good of the team. Unfortunately, this approach sometimes diffuses individual accountability.

The Gen Xers (born between 1965 – 1976) we interviewed tended to be very straightforward in expressing their point of view and had very little difficulty in telling the truth as they see it when providing feedback of any type. Many of the Xers in our research indicated a distaste for “whitewashing” an issue and prefer to “hit someone between the eyes” with a problem or concern. This does not always result in a productive, tension-free workplace.

We also talked with Gen Ys (born between 1977 – 1991), who often confessed to an inability to cope with conflict in any form and said that they want coaching on dealing with coworkers and customers who express dissatisfaction with them or their work. We found many in this generation to be highly sensitive to any type of criticism and even crippled by inaction and confusion when faced with open disagreement.

This research combined with the FUSION model can be applied to help handle potential conflict with different age groups:

We have found that Radio Babies are more willing to confront issues directly if the expectation for candor is established at the very beginning of a supervisor – direct report relationship. When a person moves into a leadership role, we recommend that he or she conducts an open meeting with direct reports to establish expectations for getting the work accomplished; communicating questions and concerns; measuring success; and providing constructive feedback. Guide the discussion so that it includes an opportunity for direct reports to bring up barriers to meeting expectations and resources they will require to ensure success. If this is done in an open forum, all direct reports hear the same story at the same time, reducing the potential for misinterpretation. During open forums, remember to:

Focus on a few key points and priorities.

Make an effort to understand their perspectives, issues, and expectations.

Be specific and concrete about what you want.

Be intentional about the questions you ask to ensure there’s a quality dialogue.

Show that you’re open to change and options about accomplishing the work.

Radio Babies often respond best to a potentially confrontational dialogue if you can show them how they are adding value to the organization or – make sure they understand that their years of experience are valued by the organization.

If you have Baby Boomers on your staff, you may need to make an extra effort to encourage problem solving and handling conflict independently when it’s appropriate. Boomers grew up in a time when they were one of many….at home, at church, at school or military service, and in the workplace. They became accustomed to dealing with problems as a group so may need extra encouragement to handle issues independently.

We suggest that you provide Boomers with an opportunity to be reflective through self-evaluation, both during the annual review process and as an ongoing process. We like self-evaluation questions such as:

Why is our organization a better place because you have worked here?

What do you need from your supervisor to help you contribute more to the organization?

What skills, knowledge, and abilities do you need to develop to keep you challenged and motivated in your work?

We certainly don’t promote discouraging Boomers from including team members in their decisions and assignments; however, we do believe an occasional laser-like focus on them as individuals and their concerns and issues will be necessary to ensure understanding and minimize miscommunication.

Reminding a Baby Boomer that team success requires each individual’s contribution will help them see that their individual success makes a difference. The concept that a team is only as strong as its weakest link means each individual needs to work to be the best they can be for the TEAM.

If you’re in a disagreement with a Gen Xer, you’re more likely to find it necessary to park your ego at the door and be willing to receive direct and sometimes brutal honesty. Gen Xers in particular will expect their supervisor or coworkers not to “beat around the bush” but rather to focus in on the issue or problem at hand, sooner than later. They will be more than happy to express their point of view and expect that, regardless of your position, experience, or credentials you will be willing to listen. Gen Xers told us in the interviews we conducted that they appreciate hearing concrete and clear expectations and then be provided with the opportunity to develop optional approaches to get the work accomplished. Saying something like “we’ve always done it this way” is guaranteed to deepen an argument; it won’t help you make your point. If expectations aren’t being met, they want to hear it and hear why so they have a chance to improve and do a better job meeting the end result but again not being told “how” to meet the end result.

The complaint we hear from Gen Ys more than any other is this: older people always want to yell at us. We probed to find out if “yelling” means actually raising one’s voice. It does not. It means forcefully disagreeing with them. This behavior confuses and perplexes many Gen Ys, and they often ask for coaching around receiving criticism. We often coach Gen Ys to:

Focus on the issue rather than take the criticism as a personal affront.

Understand that older people are sharing their perspective based on years of experience and expertise. They’re not disagreeing just to be mean.

Be specific about your confusion or need for clarification; it’s OK to speak up.

Intentionally promote a discussion; don’t shut down just because the boss doesn’t “adore” you and your work.

Be open to tried and true methods combined with your creative ideas.

No name calling or assessing blame on others; take accountability for your own feelings and actions.

Like the Radio Babies, Gen Y’s will relate better in a high conflict situation if you can show them a business reason to why they need to make a change for the good of the company. Help them see how what they are doing is affecting the company and what changes they make will do to help the company. Gen Ys are very focused on doing what is right for the good of the company. They care about the image and ethics of the company.

The bottom line to this discussion is that there is no “magic bullet” when it comes to dealing with conflict in the workplace. Responses to conflict will vary based on numerous factors, including one’s age, and careful thought should go into handling each situation on an individual basis. The basic FUSION framework may not change; however, sensitivity to the other person’s generation and influences on their thinking is absolutely critical.

Because I was able to attend the annual SHRM Conference in Las Vegas on June 25 – 28, I wanted to share with you some of what I learned from the presentation on “Making Performance Appraisals Work” presented by Dick Grote, President of Grote Consulting Group and author of Discipline Without Punishment.

The goal of all four phases is to help an organization obtain their mission, vision, and values. These four phases then become a yearly cycle that should include a mid-year review.

In Phase 1, Performance Plan, Mr. Grote discussed two components necessary to effective performance planning: core competencies and measurements. The core competencies are no more than 4 – 6 items that cover basically what the employee does. The measurement piece helps an employee answer “how they know that they have accomplished these items?” Generally, you have four measures for output: quality, quantity, cost, and timeliness. Mr. Grote cautioned us to not be so rigid that we don’t realize an accomplishment that isn’t clearly identified.

In Phase 2, Execution, the employee actually implements the plan identified in Phase 1 with the motivational support of his or her manager. At this point, Mr. Grote asked the participants to think about the job that they enjoyed the most (not necessarily related to their current job/career). Once we had identified that job, he then asked us to determine why it was the most enjoyable. As you can imagine, the answers were very broad but all had a similar theme – recognition, achievement, learning, the work itself, and growth. Not many said that it was job security, benefits, or salary.

Unfortunately, because of time, Mr. Grote’s presentation was cut short and he was unable to elaborate on the third and fourth phases. However, these remaining two phases are as critical to the cycle as the first two. In Phase 3, Performance Assessment, we always recommend that both the employee and the manager separately assess how the employee has performed relative to the goals set in Phase 1. This helps both the employee and manager identify strengths and developmental needs for the next performance plan. With this assessment complete, Phase 4, Performance Review, can begin. It is important for the manager and employee to both share how well the employee has performed. We recommend that the manager be honest about this feedback and document both positive and negative results.

As you can tell, this is a time consuming process but is very critical to the success of an organization. How can you expect your roses or daisies to help your company reach their mission, vision, and values without feedback on what they are doing right and wrong to meet those goals?

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or wish to share your comments or success stories, you may contact Robin at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

If you stopped one of your employees on the shop floor, or in the lunch room, and asked about their expectations of privacy while at work, how would they respond? If an employee asked you about their privacy rights in the workplace, how would your company respond?

While the Internet has opened up a whole new opportunity for success and growth for many businesses, it has also created a conundrum of other workplace issues. Social Media has become the buzz word for companies wanting to expand their marketing efforts, advertise more efficiently, build relationships and create an employment brand that drives job seekers to their job openings. There is so much more at our fingertips today because of electronic media that it is almost impossible to remember when we didn’t have the Internet, let alone Web 2.0 (or Recruiting 3.0).

But along with progress often comes pitfalls. More and more companies are diving into electronic media headfirst, but not thinking through the consequences and potential impact to their companies. It’s important for companies to consider and prepare for complications that may arise with regard to using social media and other electronic communications in the workplace. Just as a company would have a policy regarding the use of company cell phones and computers, they should also have policies that cover electronic privacy when using those devices.

What are the courts looking for when judging on such privacy cases? They are looking for the reasonable expectation of privacy by the employee and a reasonably conducted search (of electronic communication) by the employer. This means when putting together an electronic privacy policy companies should do everything possible to remove the expectation of employee privacy and retain the right to search all employee communications – including the search of an employee’s private email that resides on a company computer. If your policies allow for “occasional private use” then you are setting yourself up for difficulty should you ever conduct a search that includes private email.

When considering the media policies you will put in place to protect your privacy you also need to consider how those policies might restrict your employees from doing their jobs. As the business world becomes more entrenched in online media the time your employees spend online conducting business – whether it is for marketing, selling, networking or recruiting purposes – the more flexible your policies will need to be. It’s a tricky balancing act of protecting your company and its employees while providing the necessary tools and access needed to get the job done.

Does one online policy serve all? Absolutely not. Your company will need to evaluate its needs and continue to reevaluate those needs over time. As social media and the Internet continues to evolve so too should your policies. Make it a practice to evaluate electronic media policies at least annually. And remember to look at those polices when implementing a new program or process within your company. Should your Marketing department start to advertise online or Human Resources create an alumni page on the website, make sure the methods employed adhere to the social media polices in place – if they don’t, the policy may need to be changed to allow for the needs of the organization or the program may need to be reevaluated.

This is an exciting time. I personally love the integration of technology and evolving electronic media in the workplace. Anything that makes my job easier or allows me time to focus on the aspects of my job that I enjoy by offering time savings or cutting out steps in a process is welcomed. Embrace the new technology and make it work for your organization; just be sure to be mindful of the positives and the potential negatives and craft your policies protect both employer and employee and ultimately keep you in business.

Debbie Hatke, MA, SPHR is a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant with Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have questions or comments about this article, you can contact Debbie at Debbie@strategicHRinc.com.

Employee engagement; we’ve heard the term before and as HR professionals we know and we preach that “happy” employees are “productive” employees. But do we really understand engagement? Have we really tried to truly get employees engaged? Do we recognize, and act on the knowledge, that engagement starts well before the employee gets their first paycheck? Are we doing all that we can in every encounter we have with employees to make engagement a reality?

It goes without saying that human capital is the most important asset of every company. We have seen in a number of studies that employee engagement improves the bottom line in almost every instance and it is well worth all organizational efforts to actively engage employees. Helping employees understand the company’s direction and strategic goals, and the significance of their role in meeting those goals is essential. For employees to be committed to an organization and give 150%, they have to feel they have a stake in the company’s success.

Engagement occurs when adequately skilled employees are trained and provided with the appropriate information and tools to make level-appropriate decisions and can lead the organization in the direction of meeting its financial and strategic goals. Sound difficult to take on? It really isn’t. As with all huge projects we must undertake, it is important to break it down into more manageable pieces and success will follow.

Many programs have been created and implemented to introduce the concept of engagement to our employees, but what most of us have failed to do is to start that engagement well before the hire. Integrating employee engagement in the recruitment process is the best way to begin engagement in our organizations and is essential for long term success. Without the “right” hire for the “right” position, many of our other efforts are lost. Getting it right in the beginning is essential. So how do we accomplish this?

Creating and Communicating an Employment Brand to Employees.

A well integrated recruitment and selection process will help attract the strongest candidates. Employers who are able to quickly respond to candidates, provide them with feedback and find a way to sort through searchable information for those candidates who are not a match for the current position (but may be a match in a few months) are most successful. The ability to contact candidates quickly, and for them to contact you quickly, will allow you engage top talent and start off on the right foot.

Engaging On-Boarding.

In a 2007 Watson Wyatt survey, employers who considered themselves as having a highly engaged workplace took an average of 35 weeks to bring a new hire up to speed. This compares with 15 weeks for companies that considered themselves to have lower levels of engagement. Is your organization spending time on the right activities when bringing employees on board? In addition to the typical on-boarding items, consider addressing the following.

Explain to the employee WHY they were hired – truly WHY. What is their role and how does it fit in the organization? What do successes and failures look like in the role?

Share with the new employee what it was about them that made them “the one”. Why did you choose this candidate? Help them understand what you valued in the individual so they can see what skills they have that can be most useful for the company.

Provide the employee with a realistic job preview. No sugar-coating, please. New recruits must know the job as it is so they can consider their own skills, personality, and abilities to take on tasks necessary for success.

Express your commitment to learning and development for the employee and the organization. Employees who feel employers are interested in helping them meet their personal goals are more loyal and engaged.

Engaging Social Networking.

Internal social networks can help your employees feel more connected. Many people use Facebook and Twitter to keep up with friends and colleagues outside of work. An internal network that allows the same type of interaction internally will allow employees to share knowledge, experiences, and interests online – a much more appealing way for some generations to interact, yet still allows employees to be involved and a part of the organization.

Employee engagement is essential and impacts your employees from well before employment all the way to resignation and/or retirement. There is a strong correlation between effective recruitment, on-boarding/integration, and the financial performance and success of a company. When addressed thoroughly, essential talent will be drawn to your company and quickly engaged. And once you reap the rewards you will easily see that engaged employees are well worth the effort.

What you don’t know may be hurting your employees and your bottom line. The prevalence of eating disorders is staggering. Employers may suspect an employee has an eating disorder but not know how to address the problem and be hesitant to do or say anything given today’s legal climate. To make matters worse, typically people who suffer from eating disorders are very secretive and defensive about their illness and the behaviors associated with the disorder. For example, sufferers may eat alone, wear baggy clothes, hide food, binge alone, purge in isolation, and lie about their eating habits. Severe eating disorders tend to pervade all aspects of the person’s daily life (Anderson et al., 2004). The person with a serious eating disorder is unable to leave his/her disease at the door when it is time to start working. This creates complex issues for the individual and management.

A recent study conducted by Self Magazine in conjunction with the University of North Carolina revealed that an estimated 1 out of 10 women have an eating disorder (anorexia or bulimia) and an additional 65% of women suffer from disordered eating. Disordered eating categories included; chronic dieters, binge eaters, calorie restrictors, food addicts and extreme exercisers. Eating disorders were present in women between the ages of 30 and 40 at the same rate as women in their 20’s. Many women reported spending time obsessing about food with 4% actually thinking about food most of their waking time. The number of men struggling with eating disorders is apparently on the rise as well. Researchers at Harvard University Medical School have new data suggesting that up to 25% of the people with eating disorders are male. Given the prevalence of eating disorders within the population, your company is likely to have employees with serious eating disorders that impact their health and productivity on the job.

The most commonly recognized eating disorders are anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. In anorexia, the person severely restricts their caloric intake and may also exercise to burn off calories. The medical diagnosis for anorexia requires a weight loss that puts the person’s weight 20% below normal weight. Bulimia is marked by the behavior of consuming massive quantities of food followed by self-induced vomiting. Binge eaters consume large quantities of food but do not vomit. A binge eater may diet between binge episodes but remains overweight. Eating disorders can result in a myriad of medical issues. Anorexia can result in heart damage, kidney failure, adrenal failure, thyroid dysfunction, reproductive problems and death. The health risks of bulimia are perhaps even greater. Bulimic behavior can result in heart arrhythmia, esophageal rupture, electrolyte imbalances, dehydration, kidney failure, destruction of tooth enamel, and immediate death. Binge eating disorders often lead to obesity, which increases the risk for diabetes, heart disease, and many other health problems. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. In addition, the psychological effects of eating disorders can be very damaging.

You might be thinking – so what? Some eating disorders are mild and have little or no impact on job performance. In more severe cases, there is a loss in productivity. The quantity and quality of the work is diminished. The person with a severe eating disorder may experience cognitive and physical difficulties. For example, it is common for anorexics to have reduced physical strength and stamina. They also have difficulty with concentration, memory, staying on task and problem solving. Bulimics and binge eaters may experience disruption in thought processes and difficulty with memory. Those that severely restrict calories between binges may have more serious cognitive difficulties. Preoccupation with food, dieting, and weight are pervasive in all eating disorders. At times the disorder can be so consuming that the person misses deadlines, meetings, or is absent from the job. This is just one reason why it should matter to you!

The Legal Framework:

The litigation surrounding privacy, disability and discrimination make dealing with employee issues more complicated than ever before. Eating disorders are being scrutinized under the ADA and Rehabilitation acts. Recent court decisions have established that an eating disorder may qualify as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act depending on the severity, duration and limitations resulting from the disorder.

The Federal Regulations instruct the courts to examine the “nature and severity of the impairment”, the duration or expected duration of the impairment and the permanent or long term impact of or resulting from the impairment” when determining disability. In Toyota Motor Mfg. V. Williams 534 U.S. 184,197 (2002) the Supreme Court interpreted the ADA to include major life activities involved in caring for one’s self. The court stated that to be “substantially limiting the impairment must prevent or severely restrict the individuals’ ability to perform the major life activities alleged.” This case broadened the scope of what was considered in establishing a disability under the ADA. The court stated that “When addressing the major life activity of performing manual tasks, the central inquiry must be whether the claimant is unable to perform the variety of tasks central to most people’s daily lives, not whether the claimant is unable to perform the tasks associated with her specific job.” This landmark decision broadens the scope of inquiry to include activities outside of work in determining whether a person has a disability.

In this case, Ms. Shalbert’s eating disorder was episodic and therefore the evidence failed to meet the standard of being sufficiently severe, permanent, or long-term to qualify as a disability as defined by the ADA. The court stated that “While eating disorders can substantially limit major life activities, [plaintiffs] have not presented evidence that their eating disorder has that effect.” The ADA is applied to eating disorders on a case-by-case basis. The courts are considering the severity, duration and coinciding physical and mental illnesses. The ADA, therefore, requires employers to do an individual assessment for each employee claiming a disability and requesting accommodation.

The EEOC has demonstrated its interpretation of the law regarding persons with disabilities to include people with eating disorders. The EEOC found the Social Security Administration in violation of the Rehabilitation Act for failing to accommodate a person with an eating disorder. In the case, Rowlette v. Social Security Administration, EEOC Appeal No. 01A10816 (Aug. 1, 2003) ” Complainant, a claims examiner with stress-induced eating disorder, could no longer perform an essential function of her job (interviewing members of the public). Agency violated Rehabilitation Act by terminating complainant instead of reassigning her to another available position.”

What can or should an employer do?

The ADA and Rehabilitation Acts prohibit discrimination against a person with a disability in hiring, employment benefits and privileges of employment. The Federal Regulations instruct the courts and employers to examine the “nature and severity of the impairment, the duration or expected duration of the impairment and the permanent or long term impact of or resulting from the impairment”.

Since eating disorders involve private rather than public behavior, assessment can be difficult. If there have been several illnesses or incidents at work (passing out, vomiting, fatigue) you can let the employee know that you are concerned for their health and encourage them to visit their physician. Encourage voluntary participation in a wellness program or Employee assistance program. You should not tell them that you think they have an eating disorder as this may be incorrect and will put you under ADA scrutiny under the “regarded as disabled” clause.

As an employer, your primary focus must remain on job performance and any problems must be addressed directly as with any other employee. Document attendance, work product quality or quantity, including the ability to meet deadlines or performance goals and other observable behavior that causes you to take action or interferes with work productivity. The ability to point to specific areas where there have been changes or problems in job performance can be used to start meaningful dialogue. Be very clear about your expectations for job performance. Set a deadline for improvement and make sure you continue to document performance and meet with the employee periodically to follow up.

Remind the employee that the EAP is available and encouraged if they are having personal problems that are affecting work. You can ask the employee why they think their performance has declined. You can also ask if there is anything they need from the company in order to perform job tasks effectively. The employee may or may not offer any information, but if you suspect an eating disorder you have offered support and informed the employee that their work is being affected by the illness.

As an employer, you are obligated by the ADA to engage in meaningful dialogue regarding reasonable accommodations for a person with a disability. Eating disorders are not static and symptoms may change or fluctuate for many years. It is therefore, important to reassess needs periodically. Communicate with health care providers at predetermined intervals to ensure that the company is making reasonable efforts to keep the employee as part of the productive workforce while encouraging recovery. You may also request the physician evaluate the person’s ability to safety perform job duties. As an employer, you have the right to ensure the safety of employees and others in the work environment. In cases of extreme anorexia, it may be necessary to remove the person from job duties that pose safety risks. You must document the facts that lead to the decision to remove duties. Specifically, the information received from physicians and any work incidents that suggest that there is a reasonable probability of a materially enhanced risk of substantial harm to the health and /or safety of the individuals or others that cannot be eliminated or reduced by a reasonable accommodation.

Accommodations for people with eating disorders are typically not difficult or expensive. The following are some examples of reasonable accommodations:

Flexible leave for doctor’s appointments

Allowing a heater in the office

Permitting breaks for the person to eat small meals

Flexible scheduling

Modified job duties

Ergonomic chair or extra padding

Allowing telephone calls to support persons

Open door policy to supervisor

Reduction in physical exertion

Allowing work from home

Providing mechanical assists or lifting aids

Document all of the steps in the disability management process. In the event that a disability discrimination charge is made, your documentation will be your best defense in showing that you have made a “good faith effort” as required by the ADA. It will also help you to follow up appropriately, share information as needed, and clarify the process for the employee.

Depending on the severity of the case as documented by the medical professional, eating disorders may qualify as serious medical conditions under the Family and Medical Leave Act. In many cases, treatment of eating disorders qualifies for leave under the FMLA. The employee may qualify for up to 90 days of leave to receive treatment. Leave may be used intermittently for doctor’s appointments or other treatment (nutritionist, counselor). Employees may have family members with eating disorders and request leave under the FMLA to care for the family member. The stress of having a family member with an eating disorder can also interfere with job performance. Be sure to remind these employees of the services available for support. In addition, many persons with eating disorders have additional psychiatric problems such as anxiety disorders, personality disorders and depression (Milos, Spindler, Buddleberg and Crameri,2003)

Helpful Hints:

Become familiar with your company’s health plan benefits for treatment of eating disorders. Many health plans provide limited or no coverage for in patient treatment of eating disorders. You can assist the employee in determining what treatment options are covered by your plan.

If your company has an Employee Assistance Program, request information on eating disorders. Ask for additional resources in your area. Many communities have support groups and educational materials available at no cost.

Offer free lunch and learn sessions from a nutritionist. This can help people with eating disorders to learn about their body’s real needs versus all the information on dieting. It can be helpful for prevention as well.

When an employee reveals their eating disorder; listen, offer support, and acknowledge their pain and suffering. Let them know they are valuable. Offer resources. “You are such a talented ____ and have such a great _____, the company really values your contributions and we would like to support you in your recovery. It sounds like you are having a hard time getting out of this destructive pattern of behavior, you aren’t alone and our EAP would be happy to help you find appropriate treatment.”

Bulimics and binge – eaters often feel ashamed and embarrassed by their overeating and/or subsequent purging. It is important to approach any type of eating disorder with a non-judgmental tone.

Do NOT focus on food or weight. These are merely symptoms of the underlying problems. You want to stay away from any discussions about calories, what the person ate etc… This is not helpful to the person.

Disclosure of the illness must be limited to supervisors and managers on a need to know basis. Offer information on the illness to the direct supervisor. Instruct the supervisor to inform Human Resources if he/she witnesses signs of the condition worsening.

Offer healthy food options at meetings and training sessions. Typically people with eating disorders will have less difficulty eating foods that are low in calories and fat. Instead of donuts or chips, try serving fruit, whole grain bagels, vegetable trays and pretzels.

Unfortunately, the statistical outcomes of treatment programs are not very good, reporting only a 20% rate of full recovery. Early treatment intervention improves the likelihood of a full recovery. Many people continue to struggle with some form of eating disorder for many years. Interestingly, many people treated for anorexia go on to develop bulimia. If you have an employee who regains weight after treatment for anorexia, do not assume that the problem is resolved. The symptoms may merely have changed.

Eating disorders have become widespread in our society. Human resource professionals need to familiarize themselves with these illnesses, how they may affect their workforce and productivity, and how the courts are applying existing employment laws to cases in which the employee has an eating disorder. Managers should receive training in how to appropriately and legally deal with these issues in order to increase the productivity of the organization. While employers certainly cannot eliminate eating disorders, they can take steps to encourage a healthy diet and exercise regime through wellness programs and their employee assistance program. With the rising cost of health care, it only makes good business sense to be proactive in creating a culture of health and encouraging early treatment for eating disorders.

There is very limited data on how the prevalence of eating disorders is affecting the workplace. Information is anecdotal and sparse. For example:

An employer reports having an employee who began “fainting at work, and sometimes missing work altogether. She was also appearing not to hear instructions and other verbal communications altogether. She had become extremely thin and in fact once tripped over her drooping pants legs while walking down the hall. After several discussions she finally admitted to me that she had not eaten anything for nine weeks. This employee eventually returned to work, but only after being on both STD and LTD leaves (both of which were approved by the providers).”

“Our reliable accounting assistant started missing work, seemed to have difficulty concentrating and was making errors. I didn’t realize our accounting assistant was starving herself until she was well below normal weight. When I spoke to her, she told me she had been dieting and that she was significantly overweight when her quest for thinness began a year ago. The problem was, she was significantly underweight at 90 some pounds. She was having difficulty sleeping. She had begun to have blackouts and days that she couldn’t get out of bed. She was cold all the time and it hurt her to sit on hard surfaces. She was having trouble in school because she could not focus on her studies. She said she was thinking about seeing a doctor because she was a little scared because she had been having blackouts. She was afraid to tell the doctor about her dieting because she didn’t want to go back to being fat. I was able to convince her to call her doctor immediately. She was dehydrated and 80% below normal body weight. The doctor shared information with her about the eating disorders, the health risks and the treatment options. He recommended treatment professionals and insisted she work with a dietician and have weekly visits to check her weight and health status. She began treatment but was hospitalized a month later because she had lost more weight. She returned to work 6 weeks later. She needed accommodations to help her continue in recovery. She had weekly appointments with therapist, nutritionist, and her doctor. She also needed additional breaks to eat small snacks. She was unable to eat large meals so it was important that she eat frequently. We purchased a cushion for her chair. She used a small heater in her office. She gained weight and her energy level improved. Most of the accommodations were no longer necessary. Her job performance was flawless. She left a year later to go to graduate school.”

Professional sales person claims to be on sales calls while actually going to the gym. This person had panic attacks after eating and would leave work to vomit.

Employee at large natural foods store binges while restocking and cleaning up aisles. She steals up to $20.00 a day in food. She misses work after “bad binge days”.

Reporter misses important interview for national publication because she stopped at bakeries to binge on donuts while on her way to the meeting.

Examples of accommodation:

A waitress with anorexia was allowed to leave when business slowed down in the evenings. Although the rule was that food purchased at an employee discount must be eaten on the premises, the owners permitted her to take her meals home since she had difficulty eating in public.

A business professional started work at 9:00 am rather than 8:00 am while physically adapting to a new medication that increased drowsiness. She had chair cushions for her chair and a space heater in her office. She used intermittent FMLA to go for outpatient treatment. She also left work early on Wednesdays to attend a support group.

An accommodation that enabled: An employee was permitted to come into work as late as 10:30 am so she could exercise in the morning. Although the employer was well intentioned, this enabled the person to keep the eating disorder as the priority in her life while the business suffered.

In addition to changes in weight, there are other warning signs you may notice such as:

Bulimic individuals may have the following symptoms on top of weight difference:

Redness round the Eyes

Swollen Glands and/or Face

Lacerations on the Knuckles and Fingers

Dark Circles under the Eyes

Tooth Decay

NOTE: Be aware that there are many reasons why a person may have weight changes or be out of the normal weight range. Do not assume that because someone is over or under weight that they have an eating disorder.

Other behaviors:

Frequent Bathroom Trips

Increased Tardiness or Absenteeism

Having Difficulty Concentrating

Compulsive Behavior

Stealing Food or Money to Buy Food

Excessive Exercise

Wearing Baggy Cloths

Complaining of being Fat

Mood Swings

Depression and Avoidance of Food

More uncommon symptoms that may occur are:

Frequent Detist Trips

Exercise or Sports Injuries

Certain occupations tend to attract people with eating disorders. Some typical job types where there is a higher incidence of eating disorders include:

Stephanie Sullivan Pittman, MA, PHR is an independent consultant that has worked with Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you’d like additional real live examples with suggested accommodations, you may contact us at info@strategicHRinc.com.

Just recently, I had a client ask me to meet with an employee who was getting “involved” with her boss, the client wanted to be sure it was clearly not sexual harassment or even perceived to be. Oh and by the way…her boss was married!

Do you allow romance in the workplace? According to SHRM, 72% of companies surveyed have NO written policy regarding dating in the workplace. But at the same time, SHRM also found that 66% of the employees surveyed know of a relationship that developed at work. Has your organization addressed this issue? Where do you stand?

Let me start by summarizing the reasons why you wouldn’t want to allow dating or romance in the workplace:

Potential cases of sexual harassment

Potential cases of retaliation

Impact on co-worker morale

Distraction to others

Claims of favoritism

Mistrust of management

Issues resulting from the breakup

Pillow talk

Rumor mill

Decrease in productivity

This list could just go on and on. Plus, a number of the potential disadvantages could be extremely costly to a business. Is this enough reason to forbid it? Only 28% of the surveyed employers had a written policy of which only 7% of them actually forbid workplace romance. If it is such a volatile issue, then why do so many employers allow romance in the workplace?

To begin with, it truly will be tough for an employer to stop love in the workplace…You cannot dictate who you or someone else falls in love with, unless you are cupid. People spend more time at work than any other place. This means the odds are definitely in favor that someone will meet the love of their life at work. Plus, at work, aren’t we more ourselves than at a bar or some other social gathering? We can get to know someone’s personality, values, and behavior much better on the job. Even if you forbid it, you can’t stop it nor can you control what someone does outside of work.

Some companies actually find their employees to be much more loyal, happier and productive if they meet and marry someone at work. According to Andrea Poe in her article “Office Romance: HR’s Role,” Southwest Airlines (LUV on the NYSE) is a prime example of a company that supports office romance. Of 26,900 employees, 1,600 are married and actually met and courted on the job. If you are going to marry someone for life, wouldn’t you want to spend as much time as you could with them? My parents think so…they have been married over 40 years and have worked side by side for most of those years and will retire doing the same.

The key to handling romance in the workplace is for individuals and employers to set guidelines. Let’s start first with the individual. If you ever consider dating someone at work, try to use CLEAR common sense. CLEAR is the operative word because when you are “in love” you don’t always have a CLEAR mind. You need to set your guidelines before you fall to deeply in love and here are some things to think about:

No dating your boss or a subordinate

No public display of affection (PDA)

No compromising your work

No pillow talk

No sexual behavior at work (even after hours when you think nobody is there)

Decide how you will handle the relationship if you breakup (you need to consider this because it definitely could happen and a plan will help overcome emotions)

Decide whether or not you will tell others at work you are dating.

Beyond the individual, the employer (AKA human resources) needs to establish some guidelines which will definitely vary from one organization to the next depending on the philosophy of the company on romance in the workplace. Some things you’ll need to address may include:

What’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable with regards to romance in the workplace?

How will you “monitor” the policy that is implemented?

How will complaints from other employees be handled?

What are the consequences for problems? Reprimand? Reassignment? Dismissal?

How will you confirm that the relationship is consensual and not sexual harassment of any form?

Will you ask the couples to create a “love contract” establishing their relationship is consensual, how it will be handled on the job and what will be done if there is a break-up?

Bottom-line – you need to ask yourself where your company is on the issue of romance in the workplace. For situations like the one at the beginning of this article, lawyers will immediately recommend against any form of dating or romance in the workplace. However, my opinion would be to set clear guidelines and follow them. Of course we are all adults and should know how to behave appropriately and professionally on the job, but when cupid casts his spell on a couple, common sense can quickly go out the door unless clear guidelines are in place.

After twelve years of marriage to my husband, after meeting him at work, I’ll be the first to say that it can work out!

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have questions or comments about this article, you may contact Robin at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

People in the business world are just starting to address the differences of Generation Y compared to the rest of the workforce, so how will they deal with the differences of emerging Millennials (born from 1991 to present) in the workforce? For some of you, you are saying “we do have Millennials in our workplaces.” The Millennials may be as old as 17 and working in jobs in the retail, hospitality, entertainment, or restaurant industries already. But, too often people group Gen Y and the Millennials together and while there are many similarities, there are some distinct differences. As this youngest generation enters the workforce, we need to be getting prepared.

While Generation Y has had technology all throughout their life, the Millennials have seen the huge expansion of technology and can’t imagine any aspect of their life without it. Today kids are brought up watching Baby Einstein before they can walk, they are constantly entertained by a handheld gaming device, a DVD player in the car, computer programs that help teach them to read, several televisions, and a multitude of electronic devices that need to be programmed. Back in the day when Generation Y was growing up electronic devices were in the process of growing up as well. Nintendo had just made it on the scene followed by Sega, then Playstation and now the Wii. Generation Y knew cell phones when they were only installed in your car and Gameboy wouldn’t fit in your pocket, and computer game controls were just arrows to make you go left, right, up and down. Millennials on the other hand have had it all from a very young age. This difference in the amount of technology and the prevalence of technology helps to divide this Millennial generation from all of the others. If there were a worldwide blackout the first group to go crazy and the least likely to survive would be this generation. From first hand experience, we’ve witnessed the Millennials’ reactions when the power goes out – “what do we do now?”

Millennials, as a generation, are the most technologically advanced generation, which can bring a tremendous value to an organization from a young recruit. However, due to being constantly entertained by electronics they often have problems efficiently communicating to others without some type of screen between the two. They are used to having every minute of their lives planned out for them and occupied and this will carry over to the business world. Employers will have to develop ways to keep them constantly entertained and intrigued by what they are doing and to continually keep them busy because without having specific guidelines on what needs to get done they can easily be distracted and move on. As a group that is used to seeing and evaluating the latest and greatest they are keen to catching onto whether or not what you are selling them is the real thing or you are just trying to impress them. They are used to forming online networks of people and researching all types of different outlets on what they are looking for. As an employer you need to go about advertising your company in a different way, in different areas and find something that will make your company stand out.

However, as businesses begin to cater towards Generation Y it will be that much easier to transition to these Millennials because while they are hugely different they have many of the same basic values and standards, especially when it comes to the work/life balance. These young folks are used to being extremely well rounded and involved in every different type of activity imaginable, and don’t think for a second that you are going to find Millennials to work late hours routinely unless you are compensating for that somewhere else twofold. They know what they are worth, they know how valuable of an asset they would be to your company and they aren’t going to settle for just anything. Much like Gen Ys, the Millennials have the same need to know “why” they should do anything before they will do it. If you want them to do something, don’t expect to get away with just telling them but giving them the reason why and making it a solid reason not just “because I’m telling you to.” Also, like the Gen Ys or maybe because they are still young, the Millennials are another generation with hovering helicopter parents. Their parents will call you to apply for the job, to discuss their availability, and even to find out how they are doing. Definitely be prepared to talk to their parents about why you fired them too if that would happen; honestly, the Millennial could probably care less but the parent will.

The Millennials are still young and impressionable. Now is the time for companies to invest in them and help them develop their business ethics. We can get involved with local public and private schools provide business related outreach programs that educate the students while they are in school and eager to learn. What is your business doing? What more could you do? Mentor? Shadow? Even as parents, we can provide them guidance in making the right choices but let them make those choices, which may mean failure. Share life experiences about our jobs to help them learn real life experiences from us. Who taught you early on some of the basic skill on the job that made a difference in your life? Pay it back…it will not only help your Millennial but our future workforce!

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Consultant is President of strategic HR inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions, you can contact Robin at Robin@strategicHRinc.com. A special thanks goes out to Kristin Kaminski for her help on the Gen Y perspective!

The labor storm has officially hit land and we are all struggling to survive as the economy is picking up with full force. Businesses got a glimpse of the surge in 2005 but are beginning to see the real magnitude of the need for labor AND skills already in 2006. To help fill this demand for labor, there is a huge pool of young professional individuals, nearly 80 million, which are eager to take the challenge. However, our challenge will be to attract and retain these young professionals – the Gen Ys. Generation Y was described as “The most demanding generation in history,” by Bruce Tulgan and Dr. Carolyn Martin in Managing the Generation Mix – Part II. I’ve also heard Gen Y’s called “Generation X on steroids”. Nonetheless, here lies the challenge of how we are going to attract these individuals to work for our organizations.

Linda Gravett, PhD, SPHR and I are in the process of writing Bridging the Generations for publication in Fall / Winter 2006. For this book, we dug deep into the minds of 500 Gen Ys to find out what makes them “tick” in hopes that our findings will help you attract and retain these successful individuals in your organization.

Our first step was to find out what was most important to them. The top three responses we received were quality friendships, feeling they can make a contribution on the job, and a feeling of safety. They like an organization where they can create friendships much like they did growing up in school. In other words, your organization must have a social flair to catch the eyes of this generation. Some examples include company leagues (i.e. golf or basketball) or company social events (i.e. opening night of “Matrix” or meeting after work for coffee or a beer). But, these quality relationships must go hand and hand with feeling like what they do adds value to the organization.

But recognizing what is important to a Gen Y isn’t enough if you don’t incorporate some of the key issues that entice them to join an organization. During our research, we found the top three ways to get a Gen Y to join an organization were salary, friendly casual work environment, and growth and development opportunities in that order. It isn’t surprising that salary was on top given the money that was thrown around in the late 90’s when the first Gen Ys were entering the workforce. And, unfortunately for businesses but fortunately for these individuals, high salaries and signing bonus are likely to continue given our labor shortage. But, it isn’t all about money. Gen Ys need to enjoy where they are working in the fun atmosphere described above minus the stuffy blue suits. And, they want to see opportunities to grow their skills, knowledge, and abilities through on the job experiences, mentorships, training, and learning from others.

With all this in mind, you will also need to think about how to position your recruiting to actually reach the Gen Ys. It will take technology and advertising. The younger generations are going to take advantage of every ounce of technology to make their job search a success and easier. You’ll need to advertise the job on multiple online job posting boards local, national, trade related, or all three. Plus, you will definitely want to create a job posting board on your company’s website. The job posting board will need to be regularly updated and provide an easy and responsive way for candidates to apply online.

Where you advertise isn’t the only thing you’ll need to do different. Gone are the days of receiving resumes via snail mail. With the advancements of technology, this techno savvy generation likes to apply immediately and get a response or feedback immediately. You will need to have a human resources email address and/or an online application process. For the process to succeed, you must have someone regularly checking the applications/resumes and following up with candidates. Otherwise, your credibility will be shot from the get go.

The actual copy of the ads will be critical. You’ll need to include the key words that will attract these individuals to your ads when they do online searches. The younger generations like short, snappy copy that gets right to the point of what they will be doing. But of equal or more importance, the ad will need to advertise the culture of your organization as it relates to the values of this generation. Your ads will need to include statements such as:

fast paced

individual contribution

work / life balance

family friendly

do it your way

opportunity to grow

no rules

state of the art technology.

Only list these kinds of features in your ad if you truly offer them. Otherwise, you’ll get to experience how fast these generations will leave an organization that doesn’t fulfill their promises.

The Gen Ys provide a large pool of talent eager to be groomed for the workforce and ready to fill in the gaps we are sure to encounter. Evaluate what you are doing to attract and retain your younger generation and make changes now to ensure your company successfully rides out this labor storm.

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have questions or comments on this article, you can contact Robin at Robin@strategicHRinc.com.

I was blessed this summer to have the best experience ever with a summer intern, Kristin Kaminski. We shared many stories about the generations in the workplace but I’m here to tell you that all the stories you hear about the Gen Ys are fairy tales that should be placed in a bedside book for humor rather than told in a Management 101 class.

What should be taught in the management classes about Gen Ys is they are misunderstood and being managed inappropriately. But, as Kristin puts it, she is only one person and Generation Y is a huge group of individuals with differing experiences and opinions (She loves that about her generation!). You cannot assume they will all act and behave exactly the same. But, I will tell you that Kristin was never late even in an environment where she could be. If she thought she might be late, she called ahead of time. She rarely left early but actually had to be kicked out of the office. She needed very little direction and was extremely creative coming up with new ways to do things that I never would have thought of and I’m a Gen Xer. If she didn’t know how to do something, she’d ask but she definitely wanted to try to figure it out herself rather than being told exactly how to do it first.

To try and help you get to know the Gen Ys so you may have as good of an experience as I did, I interviewed Kristin. Below are some of the questions I asked and responses Kristin shared. Keep in mind, each Gen Y may have unique perspectives; the key will be to respect each Gen Y and find out if their answers to these questions are any different and if you should modify the way you interact with them to ensure you have the same great experience I have.

[Robin] What entices you to join an organization? [Kristin] An opportunity to do something important and that will make a difference while still being able to have a life. A job is not something that you do for just eight hours everyday, I want to join a company that encourages me to interact with my coworkers both in the work place and out, whether it is through company outings, sports teams, etc. I want to join a company that isn’t just in it for themselves; I want to help them to succeed but to know that they are looking out for my best interests as well.

[Robin] What makes you stay? [Kristin] Flexibility. My generation is used to being involved with several organizations at once, we don’t just want to go to work and come home everyday. We might have different clubs or volunteer organizations that we help out and we want to know that our job is not going to run our life. Yes I will stay late if I think it is necessary for me to get something done but I am not going to sit at my desk and do nothing when I feel like I could be making a difference somewhere else. My job is a part of my life and not the other way around. My generation has looked at the sacrifices that the prior generations have made and how that has affected their family life and we have evolved.

[Robin] What makes you show up to work on time? [Kristin] A reason. People call my generation “Generation WHY” so just tell me why is it necessary for me to be at work at a certain time? If it is because I need to be accessible to our customers at a certain time or accessible to my coworkers then tell me that, however if you want me to be in at a certain time because “that’s how it is” then you are just highlighting the fact that you don’t have a reason. My generation has learned when it is that we are able to work at our best, whether we are morning people who want to come in early and leave a little earlier or if we know that we are going to be in the daze in the morning and would be more productive an hour later then we would rather do that. We realize that we have to work to get paid but we would rather put your money to work when we are at our most productive and most beneficial to you.

[Robin] What shaped your perspectives growing up? [Kristin] Personal relationships, whether it is with my family or friends, have shown me how different decisions affect personal growth and happiness. With school shootings and terrorist attacks it has been brought to everyone’s attention that you won’t live forever and tomorrow isn’t a guarantee. As negative as that sounds I believe it has impacted most people for the better. People my age take advantage of every opportunity they have and are less willing to skip an event “because there is always next time.”

[Robin] What do other people say about your generation that bothers you?[Kristin] Wow! Is that a loaded question or what!? Let me start with work ethic, apparently we don’t have any! We may not believe in the traditional 8-5 workday, but if you give us a project and a deadline then we will get it done. If we can get it done before five then why should we sit around and act like we are doing something until that time, this is not the age of Fred Flintstone where when the bell rings everyone jumps in the car and goes home.

The other HUGE issue would be respect. I have heard on numerous occasions that “kids these days they don’t have any respect.” This brings back into play our generational name, Generation Why, show us that you deserve our respect and you will have it but realize that we deserve respect as well. Respect due to age or status is a thing of the past, we don’t believe that just because you are older than us or claim to be an expert means that we will blindly follow you. This blind respect without question that the older generations believe is necessary has given rise to Hitler, Stalin, Cults, Presidential Scandals, Church scandals, etc. Why would we look at all of the devastation and pain this has caused and say, “You know what, they are right. I need to do whatever this person says because of who they are because they MUST be right.” With all of this being said I must also add a quick disclaimer that we will not openly disrespect you unless you have proven to us that you deserve it.

[Robin] What do you want others to know about your generation? [Kristin] We aren’t just “Punk Kids” we have good ideas and we work hard for what we believe. Don’t discount us because we are different, the fact that we are different should add more value to your company because we have new and innovative ideas and we know the technology to help make those ideas a reality. Just because we like to work from home or work flexible hours or dress more casually doesn’t mean we don’t take our job seriously. We take our job very seriously and so we don’t see the need to waste time dressing up and we try to get a project completed as efficiently as we can while still maintaining the integrity of the project because we know how valuable everyone’s time is.

[Robin] How do you define work ethic? [Kristin] Work ethic is not defined by the number of hours you put in at the office but rather by your productivity during your work hours. Work ethic is essentially an idea of how to measure the best employees by how they go about their work, which doesn’t work well with a generation that is used to handling multiple tasks and approaching them from a different point of view. This doesn’t mean that Gen Ys do not have work ethic, it just shows that how we align our values compared to the previous generations is slightly different and therefore may appear to be a lack of work ethic. I believe my generation puts in the work where it is needed but will not waste useful energy on mundane tasks and therefore we appear to be lazy.

[Robin] What do you have to add to the workforce?[Kristin] Plenty, not only are the more recent generations more technically savvy, but we were also brought up with the idea that we can do anything which means that we believe that we can try to implement even the most outrageous of ideas. We are a group of multitaskers who know how to plan out our time and work to complete several objectives at once. Not only that, but we can offer more diverse ideas into the workplace to help everyone succeed.

[Robin] What is the best way to manage a Generation Y? [Kristin] We thrive on feedback, tell us what you like, tell us what we need to change and we will do it better the next time. If there is a conflict, approach us but don’t talk down to us or accuse us of wrongdoing without asking us first. When you give us an assignment, tell us what it is you want us to do and why you want us to do it. Do not tell us step by step how to do it, you can tell us if we have any questions or want to talk to you about how you might approach it to feel free, but do not give your unsolicited “this is how you should do it” advice.

[Robin] What is the best way to train a Generation Y? [Kristin] Ask us how we prefer to be trained. Personally I am a more hands on learner, if you stand in front of me and tell me how everything is done without giving me visual aids and a hands-on experience then I might as well be sleeping. I personally believe that interaction is necessary to be well trained in whatever it is that you are teaching us but the key is to be adaptable. If a Gen Y has a question or is confused we will ask, there is no stigma for us against asking questions.

Ask and you shall receive! Sharing an office with a Gen Y, I did a lot of asking and I learned a great deal about the Gen Ys and how to work as a team with Kristin. She was extremely productive and did an excellent job in every area possible. Even more exciting for me was to find out how much she learned from me. As a mechanical engineer interning in an HR consulting firm, Kristin confessed that she learned a great deal about how to embrace the older generations (yep – I’m an older generation) but also communication skills, project management, deadlines, and life in general. Don’t shy away from hiring and working with a Gen Y; I’d encourage you to do the same thing that I did by stepping out and working with a Gen Y, ask a lot of questions, be open to new ways, and you too can learn and reap the same success.

Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR, a Senior Human Resources Management Consultant is President of Strategic Human Resources, Inc. (www.strategicHRinc.com). If you have any questions or wish to share your comments or success stories, you can contact Robin Robin@strategicHRinc.com. A special thanks goes to Kristin Kaminski for her interview about Gen Y individuals!

Linda:
In October, I had the opportunity to present at a conference on the East coast with my friend and co-author of Bridging the Generations Gap, Robin Throckmorton. We were invited to speak on the topic of recruiting and retaining the four different generations in today’s workplace, based on my interviews of over 500 people in each of those generations over a 5-year time span. Conference attendees spanned all four generations, but the average age was early 40’s.

We decided to do something a little different for our presentation. Robin, in her 30’s, dressed as many of us in this country stereotypically think of a woman in her late 50’s. She donned a white wig, half glasses, tweed blazer and gray turtleneck, pearls and sensible shoes. I decided to dress as the stereotypical 20-something (and I’m in my early 50’s): jeans, flip-flops, pink-streaked hair, cropped top, and denim jacket.

Robin:
What Linda didn’t mention to you was how hard it was for us to come up with our outfits. She is a Baby Boomer who set out to dress like a “younger generation”. To really show a difference, we had to go to the extreme stereotype of a Gen Y. On the other hand, as a Gen Xer, I attempted to mimic the “older generations” but everything I picked out was nearly something I would wear. As my 39 year old husband said, “it’s because we are nearly 50 and many of our friends are.” So, I attempted to become the Radio Baby impostor that Linda described above with multiple pairs of glasses that I constantly misplaced and bright red lipstick.

Linda:
Although our presentation wasn’t until after lunch, we decided to arrive at the conference location a couple of hours early. We began by going over our presentation in a corner of the hotel lobby, near where conference attendees were having lunch. People walking by glanced at Robin without taking much notice. After all, she was dressed “properly” for a business conference. When eyes rested on me, however, my appearance was clearly not acceptable!

Robin:
Neither of us were really acceptable nor comfortable. I was feeling very overdressed and extremely hot with turtle necks AND a wool jacket. Believe it or not, I actually made Linda stomp on her shirt in the hotel room to make it a little less “pressed” looking. But you do have to picture her in this get up relaxed on a couch in the hotel lobby with an iPod in one ear, chomping on a wad of gum with our presentation slides sprawled out all over the place. Me on the other hand, trying to play my part sitting cross-legged and proper with my notes perfectly stacked on my lap when I’d rather be relaxed, listening to music and tuning out the world.

Linda:
Part of the reason passers by did a double take was surely because of my youthful attire as a (clearly) 40+ woman. The looks sent this message: “Why are you at a business conference dressed like we would dress to clean our house or paint our garage?” This was a new – and uncomfortable – feeling for me, a Baby Boomer who is always well coiffed, perfectly groomed, and in a matching outfit just to go to my mailbox!

Robin:
You would have been amazed at the looks we got – both of us. We were facing each other so we could see them coming and going. And, we truly were not preparing for our presentation but putting on a show. Folks didn’t know if we were real or dressed for Halloween. When they’d walk by they’d stare, point, whisper, and even come back a second time to see if they saw what they thought they saw. It was fun.

Linda:
We arrived in the room where we were to speak about 30 minutes early, as participants were coming back and settling in from lunch. We elected to sit in the back of the room for a few minutes to wait for our hostess to finish a conversation so we could greet her and start setting up for our presentation. As I went to retrieve an empty chair, I found that I was the recipient of cold stares. One fellow, who looked to be in his 40’s, said incredulously, “Are you here to observe our conference?” I just nodded, smiled, and said that I was observing at the moment. Robin, in the meantime, found an empty chair with no comments from anyone.

The person who invited us to speak had taken us to dinner the previous evening, so she knew us (and what we planned to do for our presentation). She finished her conversation, came back to Robin and me, and greeted each of us warmly with a hug and a hello. I overheard one lady say, “Is she a speaker?!” I’m pretty sure the lady wasn’t referring to Robin.

Robin and I went to the front of the room and began our prep, setting up the laptop, putting handouts on the tables, and preparing a couple of flip charts. As we passed out handouts, I observed that Robin was met with smiles and hellos. I was met with a few smiles, but more stares at the pink streaks in my hair and my flip-flops.

Robin:
Now, those of you that know Linda and have seen her speak at any event know what she is describing is extremely unusual for her. Whenever we co-present, she is swarmed the minute she walks in the room with individuals wanting to meet her and ask her questions even before the presentation. While we set up, I got lots of smiles (I thought it was the wig) but did get questions about what we were presenting and how interesting it was going to be. If anyone needed anything, they asked me. I’ve presented with Linda before so this was a different experience for me since she usually gets this attention.

Linda:
It came time to be introduced. I was introduced first, beginning with “Dr. Linda Gravett is a nationally-known speaker and author…” There was an audible gasp from some people in the room – how could someone who looked like me be a “nationally-known speaker”?!

Robin:
Linda didn’t mention that I also had to play Vanna White and show everyone who “Doctor” Gravett was since they all assumed it was me. This was when I noticed the biggest gasp or bit of confusion – “She’s the Doctor and nationally known speaker, I thought the other gal was?”

Linda:
The response to Robin and me continued to be different as we went through our program. We did, of course, let participants know right away that we were each dressed as the “stereotypical notion” of a Baby Boomer and a Generation Y employee. As we presented the research and shared excerpts from our book, people directed most of their questions to Robin. That is, until we started metamorphosing into our real selves. As the program started winding down, Robin took off the white wig and shook out her shoulder length blond hair. She took off the bifocals and the tweed blazer and turtleneck, revealing a trendy knit top that is what you’d expect to see a person in her 30’s wearing. I took the pink streaks out of my hair (they were affixed with Bobbi pins), exchanged the flip-flops for low heels, and put on a wool blazer instead of the denim jacket. One lady sang out, “She’s changing into one of us!” Towards the end of our program, more people started directing questions my way.

Robin:
Now, the true gasp came when folks realized how old I really was. Underneath the getup that I had on, you couldn’t tell just how old I might be. So, when I pulled off the wig, jacket and turtle neck and they saw I was a “young” woman in a black dress with a silver belt, everyone’s jaw dropped at least two inches. It was fun!!!! Truly, what I was wearing, black top, long black skirt, black boots, and a silver chain belt could have quickly been met with a black jacket and looked as professional as needed for a conference presentation or so any other Gen Xer might say.

Linda:
Here’s one final interesting piece. At the end of a presentation, people typically come up to speakers and ask questions or make comments. The participants that came up to me were in their 20’s. The people that came up to Robin were in their 40’s and 50’s. Typically when we co-present, it’s the other way around. Yet we both wrote the book as equal partners.

Robin:
We’ve been writing a book to be released in Fall/Winter 2006 that will help guide all individuals (HR, Managers, Co-workers) on how to understand, respect, and communicate with the different generations in the workplace. And, as our labor market tightens up, the book will be helpful in addressing how to create a workplace that will attract and retain individuals in all generations. The key is that the book is written from both of our perspectives – Gen Xer and Baby Boomer.

Linda:
I learned on this day in October that one’s appearance in the world of business can definitely make a difference. I learned how 20-somethings with body piercings and streaked hair can be discounted simply because they’re not wearing the “corporate suit”. The people who came up to me after our presentation asked us to keep sending out the message that great ideas, creativity, and know-how can come from employees in what appears to some to be strange packaging. As for myself, I have to say that flip-flops are truly comfortable.

Robin:
We all grew up hearing “don’t judge a book by its cover” but also “dress to impress” and “your first impression will last forever.” If you met me growing up, you’d seen me very trendy and even odd. When I entered the business world, I threw away my Madonna and Cindi Lauper clothes and switched to blue and grey conservative business suits. Fortunately, styles have become a little more casual and fun. But looking young for my age and hearing the statements “I have underwear older than you” or “How could you know anything, you’re younger than my daughter”, I’ve learned you have to dress extremely professional and conform or you won’t gain respect for having any credibility or expertise. So, you won’t catch me wearing my flip flops at a presentation but I’ll still keep them for the trip to my mailbox or grocery story where I have a chance to be sure I don’t match.

A famous study measures the amount of stress caused by several dozen common life events. Relocation ranks third in intensity, following on the heels of the death of a close relative and divorce.

MOVING IS STRESSFUL:

Its hard work—selling a house, securing housing in the new location, packing and transporting family goods and the endless necessary tasks of “settling in.”

The children, whether eight or eighteen, need extra attention.

It is a time of saying goodbye to friends and to familiar and beloved places.

The entire family needs to adjust to all the differences in the new location. Families moving to another country can expect almost everything to be different.

Nearly every aspect of common family life changes: daily routines, schools, community associations, friendships, even the physical landscape.

Change and Transition

William Bridges, an organization psychologist, observes that most people react to change by navigating their way through three distinct stages – Endings, the Neutral Zone and New Beginnings. People achieve successful transitions when they adjust to change through the healthy navigation of each of these three transition stages. When we fail to accomplish the essential tasks of each stage, we can get stuck in an incomplete and unsatisfying transition. This failure cripples our ability to live a satisfying life in our new area.

Endings

Our reaction to change always begins with the Ending. The Ending phase typically begins when we first learn about an impending move.

Right away we begin to think about everything we must do to complete the logistical challenges of uprooting from one place and settling in another. At the same time, we typically feel a sense of loss about the life we are leaving behind. The prospect of this loss can trigger a period of grief, as though we are preparing to lose a person close to us. The experience of grief includes several emotions:

Shock – “I can’t believe that we have to move just as we were getting to like it here.”

Anger – “I am just sick and tired of moving and I can’t imagine doing it again.”

These feelings are uncomfortable, even painful, but also normal. Emotions are not negative in themselves, only in how they can affect us when we either ignore them or cling on to them past their natural life. Feeling anger and sadness does not mean that there is something wrong with us or with the move. Life as it is, even good life, often produces uncomfortable feelings. We don’t need to run from these feelings, but to learn from them.

How do we do this? We may instinctively fear that if we acknowledge and articulate painful emotions, it will give them more power. Quite the contrary. By discussing our feelings with others we dilute their power, put them in a larger perspective and soften their negative impact.

So, a basic rule for managing change is to let ourselves feel what we feel and to discuss our feelings with people we trust.

Children are no different from adults on this score. They adjust best to relocation when they can both talk about their worries and participate in the practicalities of moving.

Children of all ages feel the strain of moving and any child old enough to talk about it will benefit from doing so. Families that talk together about the ending phase of relocation make a smoother transition to their new home and environment.

Rituals are valuable ways for both adults and children to mark the significance of transitions and say good-bye to a part of their life that is ending. These parting rituals don’t have to be fancy – a last visit to a favorite pizza parlor, a romp at the local playground, visits to important sites like schools, and special good-bye time with friends are examples of simple, but effective, leave-taking rituals. Some children host a goodbye party for their friends before the move.

In the case of moving, what is good for children is also healthy for adults. Here are several tips for “closure” at the Ending stage of your transition.

Before the move, take the time to say good-bye to people and places. It gives us a sense of rounding off, of completion, and allows time to acknowledge what we will miss. Keep a journal of your experiences while living abroad.

Encourage open communication among family members. Inform children about the move as soon as possible. When feasible, include children in some aspects of the decision-making process about how the move will be organized. Encourage everybody to speak honestly about their reactions and explore your new surroundings.

Take time to relax and have fun. Inaugurate life in your new home or apartment with a special “Welcome to Us” dinner. Try to learn the new language.

Pre-relocation visits to the new area help both adults and children to make the transition. Instead of wondering about the unknown, we can begin preparing ourselves while still in our old location.

Relocation is physically, mentally and emotionally demanding. This is not the best time to abandon your normal routines of self-care in the areas of sleep, nutrition and exercise.

Have reasonable expectations of yourself and others. Recognize that relocation is inherently stressful and do not be hard on yourself for not handling everything perfectly.

These suggestions apply as much to expatriating and repatriating relocaters as they do to those who move domestically, though pre-relocation visits are difficult to arrange for obvious reasons.

Don’t hesitate to ask for help. Well, you can hesitate, but do it anyway. Don’t confuse asking for help with self-pity or weakness. And remember that most people like to help. Expatriates report that it is valuable to arrive equipped with the contact information for other expatriates from their own country. Network, network and network, some more!

Keep your sense of humor. If you have never had one, try to develop it.

The Neutral Zone

The Neutral Zone occupies the middle stage of transition; it begins with the departure from the old home and extends into the initial period of resettlement. Its duration varies anywhere from two or three months to nine months.

The Neutral Zone is often marked by a sense of dislocation and anxiety. Change means heading into unfamiliar territory, and during this passage it is common to confront a feeling of emptiness. People often feel in limbo; they miss their familiar surroundings but have not yet planted firm roots in the new area. During this period family members are especially vulnerable to disappointment as they find that their new location does not offer the same features, attractions and apparent advantages they had appreciated “back home.”

Despite its unsettling aspects, the Neutral Zone also provides time for rejuvenation, self-examination and redirected focus. In the Neutral Zone people discover new talents and passions, and a capacity for closer, more rewarding relationships.

People moving from one country to another may be cheated out of their neutral zone, depending on how marked the differences are between the two. The culture shock that accompanies moving to a foreign country can turn into an ongoing culture adjustment. There are many stages of culture shock; from the pre-departure phase to the honeymoon period onto intense culture shock and finally, recovery and adjustment which is just before repatriation.

One expert on change has remarked that it is an interlude that deserves to be “savored.” Here are several suggestions for making your Neutral Zone a “tasty” one:

Accept what is. Waging a war against circumstances that are fixed is self-destructive and wastes enormous energy.

Accept your feelings for what they are. Anger and sadness aren’t negative feelings unless you do not acknowledge them or realize you have them.

Relocations disrupt the customary routines that give our lives structure, so it may help to quickly reestablish routines that provide a sense of order and structure.

Being in Neutral for a while is normal. It is a resting time between the rigors of departure on one end and getting newly settled and established at the other.

The main danger of the neutral zone is that of getting stuck. How do you know if you have gotten stuck? The two most common signs of an unsuccessful transition are emotions that are unusually intense or prolonged. If you are incapacitated by anxiety before the move or mourning the old homestead a year after relocating, it may be time to seek professional help.

Beginnings

Veteran movers learn that the unpacking of their belongings scarcely concludes their relocation. Experience teaches them that it takes six to nine months to fully acclimate to their new world.

So it can be difficult to pinpoint where the Neutral Zone merges into New Beginnings. But at some point people look back and realize that they have made the shift. Families that have successfully relocated report that the key to making a healthy transition is to quickly form connections in the new community.

They make an effort to meet their new neighbors.

If they are religious, they seek a spiritual home within a month of moving.

They join one or two community groups or voluntary associations—the library guild, rescue squad, municipal health commission, hospital volunteer corps, town recreation program, planning board and Rotary are but a few of the possibilities. People who are in a new country have a special challenge. At the beginning, especially, everything can feel intimidated. Veterans of foreign moves advise that new arrivals need to get plentiful and accurate information about their host culture and immediate surroundings so that they are not constrained by their apprehension.

In other words, successful movers quickly establish relationships in their new area.

The Challenge of Change

Change is difficult. Changes in external circumstances often demand and call for internal changes. We are faced with having to let go of our familiar sources of security and self-definition.

People who have made successful relocations tend to share a number of common traits. They:

Are intentional about setting goals and organizing their actions around these goals. They are clear, with themselves and with others, about their important values.

Neither deny nor wallow in their emotions, but accept them for what they are and work from there. Meanwhile, they keep their sense of humor.

Communicate their feelings openly and listen sympathetically to the feeling of others.

Focus on their own behavior instead of trying to control the behavior of others.

Take responsibility for themselves and are open to personal change. They know the futility of procrastination and self-pity.

Practice flexibility and tolerance of others.

People who manage change well are those who can make and accept changes in themselves. When a major change such as relocation appears on the horizon, they are not immune from normal feelings like fear, sadness and anger. But by facing and expressing these feelings, they move toward the future with hope and a sense of adventure.

Galen Tinder is a Senior Consultant and Manager for Ricklin-Echikson Associates, Inc. Ricklin-Echikson Associates, Inc., (REA) delivers customized programs to address the diverse needs of Expatriates and Repatriates. REA consultants, located throughout the world, are International Human Resource professionals who have lived and worked abroad and are experienced in career/life planning and cross-cultural issues. Services assist the spouse and family in acclimating to the new country and culture. For additional information about REA’s International Services, contact Susan Ginsberg at 800-593-3311 or srgreacareers@worldnet.att.net.

Did you wake up this morning thinking, “Gee, I hope I get into an argument today” or “I hope somebody seeks me out for a confrontation”? Probably not. We typically do everything we can to avoid conflict, perhaps because past experiences have been unpleasant or we don’t know how to respond to confrontations. In this article I’d like to address turning poorly handled confrontations into collaboration.

Webster defines conflict as “disagreement between opposing principles”. Managed effectively, conflict can result in creative solutions to a problem and a variety of perspectives on improving a given situation. Or, as Martha Stewart would say, “It’s a good thing.”

Over the years, I’ve observed two types of conflict in organizations: destructive and constructive. Destructive conflict is manifested by behaviors such as yelling at coworkers or customers, withdrawal from others, or even destruction of property. Anger, fear, or frustration might motivate this type of behavior. The results from destructive conflict usually are far reaching – more people than the two or three involved are directly or indirectly affected. Typical results from destructive conflict are coworkers avoiding one another, people taking sides and subtly or overtly harassing “the bad guy”, and lower productivity.

On the other hand, constructive conflict can result in increased communication across the organization, enhanced productivity, and less absenteeism and turnover.

As managers and leaders within our organizations, our focus clearly must revolve around modeling and coaching for constructive conflict. To effectively coach our team through disagreement, we need to be aware of four typical responses to conflict that we might encounter. These responses are avoidance; rationalization; “yes means no”; and refusal.

When faced with a disagreeable situation or encounter, one response is to simply “lay low” and hope the problem, or difficult situation, will fade away. My research shows that, instead of fading away, difficult situations tend to only get worse if they’re not addressed, and addressed effectively. I’d prefer to hear from a vendor sooner than later, for example, if a product or service I’ve been promised can’t be delivered on time. I may be unhappy; however, I’ll definitely be far more unhappy if I don’t discover this information until too late to meet my commitments.

Another response to conflict is rationalization. “I won’t confront my coworker about her constant interruptions during meetings because it’ll get better.” “Someone else will tell Bob he’s doing the monthly reports wrong.” Without constructive criticism, coworkers or direct reports may not even be aware of their offending behaviors or work deficiencies….and there’s little chance of improvement if that’s the case.

Yet another approach to potential conflict is for someone to say “yes” to a request or statement when they really mean “no”. I’ve encountered this when, as a customer, I’ve requested a solution or fix to a situation or unsatisfactory purchase. The sales rep may tell me (in person) whatever I want to hear to get me out the door, only to leave a voicemail later with a different story. This certainly doesn’t build a level of trust or open communication!

The final response I’ve observed is outright refusal to engage in dialogue. When this occurs, a person may simply walk away from a discussion that begins to get uncomfortable. When one or more parties decide to disengage, there’s no chance of collaboration and the situation will eventually spiral downward.

In 1999, I surveyed 500 people in organizations throughout the country to determine the primary causes of workplace conflict between supervisors and their direct reports. Across this sample, five major sources of conflict emerged:

Goal Conflict

Perception that Input Isn’t Accepted

Unclear Assignments

Perception that Evaluations Were Unfair

Unrealistic Workload

If you’re in a management role, ask yourself if the way you articulate the company’s mission, vision, and key objectives to your staff is clear. Do your direct reports understand how their day-to-day activities support the company’s objectives? Do they have an opportunity to make suggestions to improve systems and processes or eliminate barriers to their success? Opening these communication channels will positively affect the quality and quantity of work.

One of the chief complaints I heard from direct reports is the hurtful way that their supervisor gives them feedback. When providing constructive criticism, I recommend that you:

Focus on the issue (one at a time, not a barrage of complaints from years past)

Be specific about what you want (not “your work isn’t up to par” or other vague statements)

Acknowledge the other person’s point of view

We’re accustomed to win-lose confrontations in our society; however, I believe we shouldn’t accept a “one winner, one loser” outcome. Instead, I promote what authors Fisher and Ury describe as “win-win”.

Characteristics of win-win confrontations are: common goals are sought; compromises occur; and everyone wins. To pursue common goals, both parties involved in a disagreement must be willing to divulge what they really want, as opposed to simply staking out a position.

When my husband and I were first married, we had a serious disagreement about where to take our first summer vacation. My position was that Gatlinburg was the definitive vacation spot. His position was that Myrtle Beach was the place to go. We saw that being intractable wasn’t going to get us anywhere, so we began talking about what we wanted out of a vacation. I wanted sunshine, a golf course, and some shopping. So did he! We began exploring, together, different places that would fill these requirements. We went to Hilton Head and had a wonderful time!

The key to success is that both sides find shared concerns and then move together towards addressing those concerns. You may not always get what you want, but I’ll bet that you get what you need.Dr. Linda Gravett, PhD, SPHR is with Gravett & Associates (www.Gravett.com). If you have any questions or wish to share your comments, you can contact Linda at Linda@Gravett.com.

In light of the recent tragic events in Newtown, Aurora, Portland and elsewhere, many employers and are compelled to re-evaluate their workplace violence prevention strategies. Incidents of such violence leave lasting scars on employees and organizations, and extract a painful personal and financial toll. What constitutes workplace violence? Workplace Violence Prevention and Intervention: American National Standard defines it as “a spectrum of behaviors – including overt acts of violence, threats, and other conduct – that generates a reasonable concern for safety from violence, where a nexus exists between the behavior and the physical safety of employees and others (such as customers, clients, and business associates) on-site or off-site, when related to the organization.” According to the SHRM Workplace Violence Survey conducted in 2012, over one-third of organizations reported incidents of workplace violence. While there is no 100% fool-proof way to prevent all workplace violence, there are measures organizations can take to protect their employees and mitigate risk.

First, employers can take several physical and technological measures to enhance security in the workplace. Such measures include but are not limited to: electronic security and surveillance systems, check-in requirements for visitors, employee IDs, regular security guard patrols, increased lighting and limiting public access to parts of the building. Further, an organization’s IT departments should have sound data security procedures in place to prevent unauthorized access to company data. Failing to provide adequate safety measures could expose an employer to liability should an injury or death occur that might have been prevented by such security.

Second, employers can implement several prevention strategies to help identify employees at risk for workplace violence. Hiring managers should be thoroughly trained in avoiding negligent hiring, and identifying early warning signs of violence and how to address those signs. Complete background checks should be conducted on all candidates. A clear disciplinary action plan should be in place for employees who have engaged in violent behaviors in the workplace. When a potentially violent employee must be terminated, employers should have a plan in place to ensure the employee leaves the premises in the manner that protects all employees in the workplace.

Third, organizations should develop a complete workplace violence prevention program that incorporates not only the above procedures, but other strategies as well. Actions such as periodic risk assessments (completed during a safety audit), drills, a complete investigation process for reported acts of violence, a regular communication plan, and assigning a safety officer or point person to each location or office whose responsibility is to receive any workplace violence reports or concerns. Beyond such visible measures, organizations must regularly stress to employees that they take their safety and security seriously. Also, with the high incidence of domestic violence in the workplace, employers should implement policies and procedures to protect employees who may be victims of such violence. Some states may even have laws addressing workplace domestic violence, and policies should be tailored in compliance with such laws.

Workplace violence is an unfortunate fact in today’s stressful culture. However, by combining physical security, prevention strategies, and effective programs, companies can improve the safety and well-being of their employees and create a culture of security and productivity.